(a) The state board, to the extent permitted by law, shall take all of the following actions for the purpose of allocating funds on behalf of a wastewater collection, treatment, or disposal project, if the recipient of financial assistance is a small, disadvantaged community:

(1) If the state board determines that an advance is needed for the project to proceed in an efficient manner, allocate to the recipient up to 25 percent of the financial assistance amount, not exceeding one million dollars ($1,000,000), in advance of actual expenditures. The recipient shall repay to the state board any funds advanced pursuant to this section, including any interest earned on the advance funds, if the funds are unused upon expiration of the funding agreement or if the funds are not expended in accordance with the financial assistance agreement.

(2) Establish a payment process pursuant to which the recipient of financial assistance receives funds within 30 days of the date on which the state board receives a project payment request unless the state board, within that 30-day period, determines that the project payment would not be in accordance with the terms of the program guidelines.

(3) Utilize wire transfers or other appropriate payment procedures to expedite project payments.

(b) The amount of financial assistance received by a recipient, including any funds advanced pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), shall not exceed the total amount of the financial assistance that the state board agrees to provide for a project. If financial assistance is advanced to a recipient pursuant to paragraph (1) of subdivision (a), the state board shall reduce subsequent disbursements of financial assistance by the amount advanced.

(c) For the purposes of this section, “small disadvantaged community” means a municipality with a population of 20,000 persons or less, or a reasonably isolated and divisible segment of a larger municipality encompassing 20,000 persons or less, with an annual median household income that is less than 80 percent of the statewide annual median household income.

(Added by Stats. 2008, Ch. 609, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 2009.)