Article 5. Funds of California Government Code >> Division 1. >> Title 2. >> Chapter 7.5. >> Article 5.

The Disaster Assistance Fund, referred to as "fund" in this article, is hereby created as a special fund in the State Treasury. This fund and its subsidiary account, the Earthquake Emergency Investigations Account, are continuously appropriated, without regard to fiscal years, for purposes of this act.

The Controller shall establish the following special account in the Disaster Assistance Fund. The Earthquake Emergency Investigations Account, into which shall be paid all moneys appropriated by the Legislature to the Seismic Safety Commission for allocation for the purpose of enabling immediate investigation of damaging earthquakes. Allocations may be made by the commission to assist organizations that have incurred expenses in the course of conducting earthquake investigations. Allocations may be made to cover the following expenses:
  (a) Travel, meals, and lodging.
  (b) Publishing of findings.
  (c) Contractor assistance in the investigation.
  (d) Other expenses that the commission may allow as necessary to assist the investigation. The unpredictable nature of earthquakes necessitates immediate access to funds for investigative purposes. For this reason, notwithstanding any other provision of law, funds in the Earthquake Emergency Investigations Account shall be available for expenditure without regard to fiscal years.

Income from investment of moneys in the fund and all payments by local agencies in reimbursement of moneys disbursed from the fund, including deferred payments with charges, and all other moneys deposited therein pursuant to law, shall be available for expenditure, transfer and allocation pursuant to this chapter.

(a) The Disaster Response-Emergency Operations Account is hereby established in the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties. Notwithstanding Section 13340, moneys in the account are continuously appropriated, subject to the limitations specified in subdivisions (c) and (d), without regard to fiscal years, for allocation by the Director of Finance to state agencies for disaster response operation costs incurred by state agencies as a result of a proclamation by the Governor of a state of emergency, as defined in subdivision (b) of Section 8558. These allocations may be for activities that occur within 120 days after a proclamation of emergency by the Governor.
  (b) It is the intent of the Legislature that the Disaster Response-Emergency Operations Account have an unencumbered balance of one million dollars ($1,000,000) at the beginning of each fiscal year. If this account requires additional moneys to meet claims against the account, the Director of Finance may transfer moneys from the Special Fund for Economic Uncertainties to the account in an amount sufficient to pay the amount of the claims that exceed the unencumbered balance in the account.
  (c) Funds shall be allocated from the account subject to the conditions of this section and upon notification by the Director of Finance to the Chairperson of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the chairpersons of the fiscal committees in each house.
  (d) Notwithstanding any other law, authorizations for acquisitions, relocations, and environmental mitigations related to activities, as described in subdivision (a), shall be authorized pursuant to this section. However, these funds shall be authorized only for needs that are a direct consequence of the proclaimed emergency if failure to undertake the project may interrupt essential state services or jeopardize public health or safety. In addition, any acquisition accomplished under this subdivision shall comply with any otherwise applicable law, except as provided in the first sentence of this subdivision.
  (e) Funds allocated under this section shall not be used to supplant federal funds otherwise available in the absence of state financial relief.
  (f) The amount of financial assistance provided to an individual, business, or governmental entity under this section, or pursuant to any other program of state-funded disaster assistance, shall be deducted from sums received in payment of damage claims asserted against the state, its agents, or employees, for causing or contributing to the effects of the proclaimed disaster.
  (g) Any public entity administering disaster assistance to individuals shall not receive funds under this section unless it administers that assistance pursuant to the following criteria:
  (1) All applications, forms, and other written materials presented to persons seeking assistance shall be available in English and in the same language as that used by the major non-English-speaking group within the disaster area.
  (2) Bilingual staff who reflect the demographics of the disaster area shall be available to applicants.
  (h) Notwithstanding any other law, funds in the Disaster Response-Emergency Operations Account shall not be expended for conditions in the state's prisons, medical facilities, or youth correctional facilities resulting solely from the action or inaction of the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in administering those facilities.
  (i) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2019, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that is enacted before January 1, 2019, deletes or extends that date.

Any county which distributed funds to other local agencies pursuant to Chapter 16 of the Statutes of 1986 shall not be held financially liable for those funds or responsible for any collection of those funds. This section shall not preclude the state or any county from collecting funds distributed pursuant to Chapter 16 of the Statutes of 1986 from local agencies.