(a)  The department, with the approval of the secretary, shall establish an Investigating Site Contamination Program to provide loans to eligible persons to conduct preliminary endangerment assessments of brownfields and underutilized properties. A loan provided pursuant to this section shall not be used for the cost of a phase I environmental assessment or the department’s oversight of the preparation and approval of the preliminary endangerment assessment.

(b)  The department shall develop a loan application form for an investigating site contamination program loan and shall include, in the form, any provisions that the department considers to be appropriate. The application form shall be signed by the loan applicant and shall be submitted to the department with all of the following documentation:

(1)  The phase I environmental assessment for the property that is the subject of the loan application.

(2)  Information that demonstrates that the property is a brownfield or an underutilized property.

(3)  If the owner of the property that is the subject of the loan application is not the loan applicant, one of the following:

(A)  Documentation that demonstrates that the owner consents to the performance of the preliminary endangerment assessment of the property.

(B)  A copy of an agreement between the property owner and the loan applicant that gives the loan applicant an option to purchase the property.

(C)  If the loan applicant is a local government entity, or a developer or prospective purchaser acting together with a local government entity pursuant to an enforceable agreement, a demonstration to the department that the local government entity, or developer or prospective purchaser acting together with the local government entity pursuant to an enforceable agreement, has legal access to perform the preliminary endangerment assessment at the property, or will have legal access, prior to receiving loan funds.

(4)  Any other information the department deems necessary.

(c)  The department shall determine whether to approve a loan application pursuant to this section based upon the information submitted pursuant to subdivision (b). In making a decision regarding whether to approve a loan application, the department shall approve a loan pursuant to this section for a property only if the department determines the property is a brownfield or an underutilized property.

(d)  The maximum amount of a loan granted pursuant to this section shall not exceed one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000).

(e)  (1)  Except as provided in paragraph (2) and in subdivision (f), upon approval of the loan application by the department, the loan recipient shall execute an agreement with the department to repay the loan over a period not to exceed three years.

(2)  If the loan is to a local government entity, or to a developer or prospective purchaser acting together with a local government entity pursuant to an enforceable agreement, the department may delay the beginning of the loan repayment period.

(3)  Except as provided in paragraph (4), the agreement made pursuant to paragraph (1) shall require that if the loan recipient recovers from a responsible party any costs incurred in taking a response action at the site that is the subject of the loan application, any money so recovered, except for reasonable costs and the fees incurred to recover that money, shall be used first to repay the loan or repay the grant.

(4)  Notwithstanding paragraph (3), a loan recipient is not required to first use the money recovered to repay the loan or grant, if the recipient can demonstrate, to the satisfaction of the department, that the recovered money is necessary to, and is being applied to, the total environmental remediation of the property, and that the total of the recovered money and the loan amount does not exceed the cost of remediation.

(f)  If a loan recipient who is not the owner of the property and the department determine, after the completion of the preliminary endangerment assessment, that the sum of the cost of remediation and the property purchase price makes the redevelopment of the property not economically feasible, the department may waive the repayment of up to 75 percent of the loan, and the amount waived shall be deemed a grant to the loan recipient. If the department waives the repayment of part of the loan, the recipient shall repay the remaining portion of the loan within one year of that waiver.

(g)  Upon approval of a loan, the recipient shall enter into an agreement with the department for the department to provide regulatory oversight of the preparation and approval of the preliminary endangerment assessment.

(h)  Notwithstanding any requirement of this division regarding cost recovery or reimbursement for oversight costs, a loan recipient is not liable for paying the department’s cost associated with the oversight of the preparation and approval of the preliminary endangerment assessment if the department determines there are sufficient funds in the account to reimburse the department for that oversight. If the department determines that the account has insufficient funds to pay for the oversight costs associated with the oversight of the preparation and approval of the preliminary endangerment assessment, the loan recipient shall pay the department the amount of those costs.

(Amended by Stats. 2001, Ch. 548, Sec. 3. Effective October 7, 2001.)