(a) (1)  All fees received by the Department of General Services pursuant to this chapter shall be paid into the State Treasury and credited to the Public School Planning, Design, and Construction Review Revolving Fund, which is hereby created. Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, all moneys in the fund are hereby continuously appropriated for expenditure by the Department of General Services to be applied, in the most efficient and expeditious manner possible, to the expenses associated with the review and approval of plans and specifications, and the supervision of public school building construction, pursuant to this article and Article 5 (commencing with Section 17350). The fees paid into the fund shall not be used for or diverted to any other program or purpose. Notwithstanding any other law, any moneys in the Architecture Public Building Fund on the effective date of this section thereupon shall be transferred to the Public School Planning, Design, and Construction Review Revolving Fund for expenditure in accordance with this section.

(2)  Adjustments in the amounts of the fees, as determined by the Department of General Services, may be made by the department in order to maintain a reasonable working balance in the fund, provided that the fees shall not exceed the amounts in the fee schedule specified in subdivision (a) of Section 17300 or Section 17352, as applicable. If the working fund balance exceeds six months’ expenditures, the Department of General Services shall take action to reduce the fees.

(b) The Department of Finance shall provide for the audit of the fund as needed to ensure that it is used solely for the purposes of this article and that the amount of the fee charged does not exceed what is necessary to cover the costs realized by the Department of General Services in carrying out its responsibilities pursuant to this article. The actual cost of the audit shall be paid from the fund.

(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 19, Sec. 3. (AB 111) Effective June 27, 2017.)