Integrated regional water management plans: grants: advanced payment.

Existing law, the Integrated Regional Water Management Planning Act, authorizes a regional water management group to prepare and adopt an integrated regional water management plan with specified components relating to water supply and water quality. Existing law provides that an integrated regional water management plan is eligible for funding allocated specifically for implementation of integrated regional water management. Existing law, until January 1, 2025, requires a regional water management group, within 90 days of notice that a grant has been awarded, to provide the Department of Water Resources with a list of projects to be funded by the grant funds if the project proponent is a nonprofit organization or a disadvantaged community or the project benefits a disadvantaged community. Existing law requires the department, within 60 days of receiving this project information, to provide advanced payment of 50% of the grant award for those projects that satisfy specified criteria, including that the grant award for the project is less than $1,000,000, and requires the advanced funds to be handled as prescribed, including that the funds are required to be spent within 6 months of the date of receipt unless the department waives this requirement. The bill, until January 1, 2025, would require the department to provide a project proponent that requests advanced payment and satisfies certain criteria with advanced payment for those projects of $500,000 or 50% of the grant award, whichever is less. The bill would eliminate the requirement that the grant award for the project be less than $1,000,000 to obtain advanced payment. The bill would require a project proponent, upon completion of the first one-half of a project receiving an above-described grant award, to provide a first one-half project accountability report to the department that reports the completion of objectives for the first one-half of the project and documents the expenditure and use of advanced grant funds. The bill would require the department to provide advanced payment of the remaining grant award for a project that received advanced payment for the first one-half of the project within 60 days of receiving the report if the project meets certain criteria. The bill would require the department to withhold 10% of the grant award as retention proceeds that the department is required to release fully to the project proponent upon verification by the department of project completion. The bill would require a project proponent to submit a final project accountability report to the department upon completion of the project.