2005 California Government Code Sections 8690.25-8690.7 Article 5. Funds

8690.25.  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.
8690.45.  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.
8690.5.  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.
8690.6.  (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 provision of 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 may only be
authorized for needs that are a direct consequence of the proclaimed
emergency where 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) No funds allocated under this section shall 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) No public entity administering disaster assistance to
individuals shall 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) This section shall remain in effect only until July 1, 2007,
and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute, that
is enacted before July 1, 2007, deletes or extends that date.
8690.7.  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.