(a) Of the moneys provided to the Job Creation Fund for purposes of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 26205, the available remaining funds, which are the funds allocated to a local educational agency that has not submitted an energy expenditure plan, as determined by the Energy Commission as of March 1, 2018, shall be appropriated as follows:
(1) The first seventy-five million dollars ($75,000,000) shall be provided to school districts and county offices of education for grants or loans for schoolbus retrofit or replacement through a program administered by the Energy Commission, in consultation with the State Air Resources Board.
(A) Priority shall be given to school districts and county offices of education operating the oldest schoolbuses or schoolbuses operating in disadvantaged communities, as identified pursuant to Section 39711 of the Health and Safety Code, as determined by the State Air Resources Board, and to school districts or county offices of education with a majority of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals in the prior year.
(B) Any schoolbuses that have been replaced pursuant to this paragraph shall be scrapped.
(C) A local air district may administer funding provided pursuant to this paragraph, if authorized by the Energy Commission.
(2) The next one hundred million dollars ($100,000,000) shall be deposited into the Education Subaccount, created pursuant to Section 26227, for the purpose of low-interest and no-interest revolving loans and loan loss reserves for eligible projects and technical assistance on a competitive basis. Priority shall be given to local educational agencies based on the percentage of students eligible for free or reduced-price meals in the prior year, energy savings, geographic diversity, and diversity in the size of the local educational agencies’ student populations. If a local educational agency has a project eligible for a loan under this paragraph, the maximum loan amount for the project shall be the project cost reduced by both of the following, as applicable:
(A) The amount of any grant awarded for the project pursuant to paragraph (3).
(B) Any state, federal, or local incentives that have been provided for the project.
(3) (A) (i) The remaining moneys, if any, shall be provided to local educational agencies in accordance with subdivision (b) of Section 26227.2, as implemented by the Energy Commission, in consultation with the State Department of Education, as follows:
(I) Ten percent shall be for local educational agencies with an average daily attendance of not more than 1,000.
(II) Ten percent shall be for local educational agencies with an average daily attendance of more than 1,000 and not more than 2,000.
(III) Eighty percent shall be for local educational agencies with an average daily attendance of more than 2,000.
(ii) The Energy Commission may adjust the funding allocations specified in clause (i) and may add additional categories based on average daily attendance to further the purposes of Section 26227.2.
(B) The Energy Commission shall facilitate local educational agency pursuit of funding under this paragraph and from the State Energy Conservation Assistance Account through coordinated information, documentation, and review processes regarding the project.
(C) For purposes of this paragraph, average daily attendance shall be those numbers as reported in the prior year, as determined by the State Department of Education.
(b) A local educational agency that receives moneys pursuant to this section shall encumber those moneys within nine months of allocation.
(c) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:
(1) “Energy Commission” means the State Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission.
(2) “Local educational agency” means a school district, county office of education, charter school, or state special school.
(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 250, Sec. 17. (AB 129) Effective September 16, 2017.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018