2023 California Code › Public Utilities Code - PUC › DIVISION 1 - REGULATION OF PUBLIC UTILITIES › PART 6 - Wildfire Fund › CHAPTER 2 - The Wildfire Fund › Section 3288.

3288. (a) If Section 3291 is operative, the Director of Finance, in consultation with the Treasurer and the administrator, shall determine the amount and timing of moneys needed to support the purposes of this part. The Director of Finance shall request those moneys from the Controller. Upon that request, the Controller shall transfer up to ten billion five hundred million dollars ($10,500,000,000) to the fund from the Surplus Money Investment Fund and other funds that accrue interest to the General Fund as a cash loan. The loan principal and interest shall be fully repaid as provided in subdivision (b) of Section 80550 of the Water Code.
(b) If Section 3292 is operative, the Director of Finance, in consultation with the Treasurer and the administrator, shall determine a schedule to provide ten billion five hundred million dollars ($10,500,000,000) to the fund and shall provide that schedule to the Controller within 60 days. The Controller shall transfer the moneys from the Surplus Money Investment Fund and other funds that accrue interest to the General Fund pursuant to the schedule provided by the Director of Finance as a loan to support the purposes of this part. The loan from the Surplus Money Investment Fund is intended to provide necessary cash on a short-term basis for claims-paying resources. It is the intent of the Legislature that the loan be repaid as quickly as possible within a fiscal year. The loan shall be repaid by the proceeds of the charges authorized pursuant to subparagraph (A) of paragraph (1) of subdivision (a) of Section 3289 or the proceeds of any bonds as set forth in Division 28 (commencing with Section 80500) of the Water Code.
(c) In the case of subdivision (a) or (b), interest payments on outstanding loan amounts shall be calculated at the greater of the quarter-to-date yield at the one-year constant maturity United States Treasury rate for the calendar quarter concluded directly before the calculation or the Surplus Money Investment Fund rate at the time of the cash transfer. The interest payments shall be paid on a quarterly basis from Wildfire Fund assets following the cash transfer and shall continue until the loan has been fully repaid. The interest payments are interest earnings of the Surplus Money Investment Fund and shall be apportioned pursuant to Sections 16475 and 16480.6 of the Government Code.
(d) Whether Section 3291 or 3292 is operative, an initial transfer to the fund of no less than two billion dollars ($2,000,000,000) shall be made in the 2019–20 fiscal year.
(e) Prior to a transfer being made from the Surplus Money Investment Fund pursuant to subdivision (a) or (b), the Director of Finance shall determine if the transfer would result in the General Fund’s estimated cash and unused borrowable resources declining below three billion dollars ($3,000,000,000) at any point in time over the succeeding 24-month period. If the Director of Finance determines that the transfer would result in estimated cash and unused borrowable resources declining below that level, the transfer of funds from the Surplus Money Investment Fund shall not be made. This subdivision shall not apply to the first two billion dollars ($2,000,000,000) of transfers made in the 2019–20 fiscal year.
(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 396, Sec. 42. (AB 1513) Effective January 1, 2020.)