Hazardous Materials Response and Restoration Subaccount.

Existing law establishes the Oil Spill Response Trust Fund, a continuously appropriated fund, for, among other purposes, providing funds to cover promptly the costs of response, containment, and cleanup of oil spills into waters of the state, including damage assessment costs and wildlife rehabilitation. Existing law establishes the Hazardous Materials Response and Restoration Subaccount, a continuously appropriated subaccount in the Fish and Wildlife Pollution Account in the Fish and Game Preservation Fund, for, among other purposes, the protection, preservation, and restoration of fish and wildlife impacted by discharges of hazardous materials into the environment of the state. This bill would authorize the administrator for oil spill response, upon making a specified finding, to loan moneys from the Oil Spill Response Trust Fund to the Hazardous Materials Response and Restoration Subaccount in an amount, not exceeding $500,000 annually, necessary to reimburse organizations providing wildlife rescue and rehabilitation services for expenses incurred by rescue and rehabilitation operations for wildlife injured by spill events of nonoil materials, thereby making an appropriation. The bill would prohibit the administrator from making a loan if the total amount of moneys made from these loans that has not been repaid exceeds $2,500,000. The bill would require the administrator to notify the Joint Legislative Budget Committee of the loan. The bill would require the administrator, through a public process, to develop and adopt guidelines identifying expenses eligible for reimbursement.