Cal. PRC § 75250 — California Code / Code prc / Division 44 / Part 5 / Section 75250
Section 75250
Status: in_force

(a) For purposes of this section, the following definitions apply:

(1) “Council” means the Strategic Growth Council established pursuant to Section 75121.

(2) “Disadvantaged community” means a community identified pursuant to Section 39711 of the Health and Safety Code.

(3) “Disadvantaged unincorporated community” means the same as defined in Section 65302.10 of the Government Code.

(4) “Eligible entities” include, but are not limited to, nonprofit organizations, community-based organizations, coalitions or associations of nonprofit organizations, local agencies, or a tribal government.

(5) “Eligible services and amenities” means services and amenities offered by community resilience centers, including, but not limited to, hydration stations, electric charging stations, backup power, public health and mobile health services, cooling, clean air, respite, community evacuation and emergency response, and other services to mitigate the public health impacts of extreme heat and other emergency situations exacerbated by climate change, such as wildfire, poor air quality, power outages, or flooding, on local populations.

(6) “Program” means the Community Resilience Center Program established pursuant to this section.

(7) “Under-resourced community” means the same as defined in Section 71130.

(b) The Community Resilience Center Program is hereby established, to be administered by the Strategic Growth Council, in coordination with the Office of Planning and Research, to provide funding for the construction of new, or the retrofitting of existing, facilities that will serve as community resilience centers. Community resilience centers shall serve as community emergency response facilities and aid in building long-term resilience, preparedness, and recovery operations for local communities.

(c) (1) The council shall award competitive grants to eligible entities through an application process. To be eligible for a grant award, eligible entities shall demonstrate that the proposed project has all of the following attributes:

(A) Collaboration with community members that will utilize and benefit from the project.

(B) Involvement of community-based organizations and community residents within governance and decisionmaking processes, including in the selection and planning of the project.

(C) Multistakeholder partnerships.

(D) The proposed community resilience center will be accessible and offer eligible services and amenities year round to community residents.

(2) The council may award grants that include funding for technical assistance, including, but not limited to, grant writing support and other application assistance.

(3) Grants for community resilience centers may also be awarded for comprehensive upgrades to model integrated delivery of services.

(4) The council shall publicly announce grant award recipients during a public council meeting.

(d) (1) The council shall adopt guidelines and selection criteria for the awarding of grants under the program. The guidelines and selection criteria shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(A) Prioritization of projects that are located in and benefit under-resourced communities.

(B) Prioritization of projects that represent the statewide geographic diversity and that are inclusive of both rural and urban communities in incorporated and unincorporated areas.

(C) The minimum number of years that each grant award recipient must offer community resilience services.

(2) Guideline and selection criteria development and adoption shall go through a public process that allows for transparency and stakeholder feedback.

(3) In developing draft guidelines and selection criteria, the council shall conduct outreach to disadvantaged communities, disadvantaged unincorporated communities, or low-income communities and encourage comments on the draft guidelines and selection criteria from those communities.

(e) The council shall use not more than 8 percent of the moneys appropriated for purposes of the program for the costs of administering the program.

(f) (1) Notwithstanding Section 10231.5 of the Government Code, on or before January 1, 2025, and annually thereafter until the funds for the program are fully expended, the council shall prepare and submit a report on the program to the relevant budget subcommittees of the Legislature and to the Legislative Analyst’s Office. The council shall design the program to enable the collection of necessary data to complete the report, including, but not limited to, collecting outcome information from grant award recipients.

(2) The report shall include, but not be limited to, all of the following:

(A) Detailed information regarding how the program conducted outreach to raise awareness of grant opportunities for stakeholders in heat-vulnerable communities, which organizations and projects applied for funding, and what selection criteria the council used to award the grants.

(B) A summary of the selected projects, including project costs, locations, and descriptions.

(C) A description of the specific, measurable outcomes achieved by the program, including data on the utilization of the centers including during extreme heat events.

(D) Lessons learned and potential recommendations for improving the program.