BILL NUMBER: AB 2997 CHAPTERED 09/28/02 CHAPTER 1031 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 28, 2002 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 28, 2002 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY SEPTEMBER 1, 2002 PASSED THE SENATE JUNE 29, 2002 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 24, 2002 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY JUNE 6, 2002 INTRODUCED BY Committee on Budget (Oropeza (Chair), Aroner, Cardenas, Cardoza, Cedillo, Diaz, Dutra, Firebaugh, Horton, Keeley, Pavley, Simitian, Steinberg, Vargas, and Wright) MARCH 4, 2002 An act to amend Section 5627 of, and to add and repeal Section 35033.5 to, the Public Resources Code, relating to natural resources, and declaring the urgency thereof, to take effect immediately. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2997, Committee on Budget. Parks and recreation and coastal protection: grants. (1) The existing Roberti-Z'berg-Harris Urban Open-Space and Recreation Program Act provides for grants to cities, counties, and districts to supplement, but not supplant, local expenditures for park and recreation areas or facilities. The act provides, with respect to grant moneys received for high priority park and recreation projects that satisfy the most urgent park and recreation needs, that local matching money is not required with respect to an applicant that has urgent unmet needs for recreational lands and lacks the financial resources to acquire recreational lands, as determined pursuant to a formula set forth in regulations adopted by the Director of Parks and Recreation after a public hearing. This bill would provide that local matching money shall not be required with respect to an applicant that has urgent unmet needs for recreational lands or facilities, and lacks the financial resources to acquire or develop recreational lands or facilities. (2) Existing law requires that 50% of the amount of funds received by the state pursuant to Section 8 (g) of the federal Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act over the amount received in the 1996 calendar year be available, on an annual basis, for appropriation to the Secretary of the Resources Agency for grants to coastal counties and cities pursuant to the Coastal Resources and Energy Assistance Act (CREA). This bill would prohibit the allocation, for the 2002-03 fiscal year, of those federal funds received by the state to or by the secretary for grants to coastal counties and cities pursuant to the CREA. The bill would repeal this provision on January 1, 2004. (3) The bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 5627 of the Public Resources Code is amended to read: 5627. (a) Grant moneys received pursuant to this chapter shall be expended for high priority projects that satisfy the most urgent park and recreation needs, with emphasis on unmet needs in the most heavily populated and most economically disadvantaged areas within each jurisdiction. (b) Grants received pursuant to this chapter shall be expended only for acquisition, development, or both, except that not more than 30 percent of the amount received by a city, county, or district in an annual period may be utilized for special major maintenance projects, provided the projects are related to land acquired or developed, or both, in whole or in part, with state moneys under this chapter, or for innovative recreation programs, or for both. (c) Grants to cities, counties, and districts pursuant to this chapter shall be on the basis of 70 percent state money and 30 percent local matching money, not less than one-third of which shall be from private or nonstate sources of funds, for the project. Grants for acquisition shall be matched only by money or property donated to be part of the acquisition project. Grants for development may be matched by monetary contributions or, if nonmonetary contributions, as provided in regulations and standards which shall be established by the director after a public hearing. The component of local matching money consisting of funds from private or nonstate sources may, at the option of the grant recipient, be calculated as a percentage of the total amount granted in that fiscal year to a grant recipient, rather than on a project-by-project basis. (d) The component of local matching money from private or nonstate sources required by subdivision (c) may be in the form of and include, but is not limited to, the following: cash donations, gifts of real property, equipment, and consumable supplies, volunteer services, free or reduced-cost use of lands, facilities, or equipment, and bequests and earnings from wills, estates, and trusts. Funds from nonstate sources that qualify for the purposes of subdivision (c) are funds from the federal government and local public agencies other than the grant recipient. Real property, cash, or other assets required to be transferred to a public agency pursuant to Section 66477 of the Government Code or any other provision of law shall not qualify as funds from a private or nonstate source; however, they shall qualify as the monetary or nonmonetary contribution required to be furnished by the grant recipient pursuant to subdivision (c). (e) The grant recipient shall certify to the department that there is available, or will become available prior to the encumbrance of any state funds for any work on the project for which application for a grant has been made, matching money from private or nonstate sources. Certification of the source and amount of nonstate funds shall be set forth in the application for a grant submitted to the department. However, in recognition of the fact that raising private funds frequently requires an initial evidence of matching public funds, the certification of the source and amount of the private funds shall be made by the applicant at least 30 days prior to actual release of state funds. (f) Local matching money shall not be required with respect to an applicant that has urgent unmet needs for recreational lands or facilities, and lacks the financial resources to acquire or develop recreational lands or facilities, as determined pursuant to a formula set forth in regulations adopted by the director after a public hearing. In addition, with respect to applications for grants submitted for areas where private financial resources are of limited availability or submitted for projects or programs that are not of a type likely to attract private funds, the director shall, if the project conforms to regulations adopted by the department, waive the requirement that at least one-third of local matching money be from private sources. The regulations shall establish criteria and procedures for the waiver. These criteria may provide for consideration of the average per capita income, unemployment rate, crime rate, and recent history of plant or business closures in the area of the applicant's jurisdiction where the grant will be expended. SEC. 2. Section 35033.5 is added to the Public Resources Code, to read: 35033.5. (a) Notwithstanding Section 35033 or any other provision of law, funds received by the state pursuant to Section 8(g) of the Outer Continental Shelf Lands Act (43 U.S.C. Sec. 1337(g)) in an amount greater than the amount of the funds received in the 1996 calendar year from that source may not be allocated to or by the secretary for grants to coastal counties and cities pursuant to this chapter for the fiscal year 2002-03. (b) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2004, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2004, deletes or extends that date. SEC. 3. This act is an urgency statute necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are: In order to make statutory changes necessary to alleviate the effects of the budget deficit facing this state at the earliest possible time, it is necessary that this act take effect immediately.