(a) In addition to the purposes specified in subdivision (a) of Section 50517.5 and except as otherwise provided in subdivision (b), the department may make grants and loans under the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program to local public entities and nonprofit corporations in order to establish capitalized operating reserves for short-term occupancy housing for migrant farmworker households, purchase land for, and construct, housing structures for short-term occupancy by migrant farmworker households, lease or purchase existing structures for short-term occupancy by migrant farmworker households, and, where the department determines that extraordinary or emergency circumstances exist, directly rent or lease housing for short-term occupancy by migrant farmworker households.

(b) (1) Notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, except as provided in paragraph (2), the department shall not make grants or loans under the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program on or after January 1, 2020, for the purpose of planning, developing, or operating housing used to comply with the requirement under Section 1188(c)(4) of Title 8 of the United States Code to furnish housing to H-2A workers, as provided in subdivision (b) of Section 50205. A person who receives any grant or loan under the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program on or after January 1, 2020, and expends any of those funds for any purpose described in this subdivision shall reimburse the department as provided in paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 50205.

(2) This subdivision shall not apply to any contract entered into or any grant or loan provided pursuant to the Joe Serna, Jr. Farmworker Housing Grant Program prior to January 1, 2020.

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 866, Sec. 18. (AB 1783) Effective January 1, 2020.)