(a) The State Department of Social Services may provide state supplemental grants to meet disaster-related necessary expenses or serious needs of individuals and households adversely affected by any disaster declared by the President of the United States in those cases where individuals and households are unable to meet those expenses or needs through assistance under Section 408 of the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (P.L. 93-288, as amended by P.L. 106-390 (42 U.S.C. Sec. 5174)), or from other sources.
(b) Grants shall only be made to individuals and households determined to be eligible for the federal assistance to individuals and households program under Section 5174 of Title 42 of the United States Code and who still have unmet serious needs and have suffered losses reimbursable under that program in excess of the maximum federal grant amount.
(c) The State Department of Social Services may make a grant to those individuals and households equal to the difference between the federal grant awarded and federally eligible appraised loss, not to exceed ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per individual or household.
(d) Application procedures established for the administration of this chapter shall conform to the procedures required in the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act (P.L. 93-288, as amended by P.L. 106-390). The State Department of Social Services shall ensure that applicants for relief under this chapter have exhausted all other available means of seeking relief for disaster damage prior to receiving any grants pursuant to this chapter.
(e) Application procedures utilized in the administration of this chapter shall be subject 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.
(Amended by Stats. 2002, Ch. 350, Sec. 5. Effective January 1, 2003.)