Any funds appropriated in accordance with this chapter and not expended as described in Section 35030, may be awarded by the secretary for technical and financial assistance to coastal counties and cities with approved local coastal programs to help them exercise effectively their responsibility for improving the management of the state’s coastal resources. Technical and financial assistance shall be made available to coastal counties and cities to do any of the following:
(a) Protect wetlands, flood plains, estuaries, beaches, dunes, and fish and wildlife and their habitat within coastal areas.
(b) Minimize the loss of life and property in coastal flood-prone, storm surge, geologic hazard, and erosion-prone areas.
(c) Provide public access to the coast for recreational purposes, to acquire coastal view sheds, and to preserve, maintain, and restore historic, cultural, and aesthetic coastal sites.
(d) Facilitate the process for siting major facilities along the coast related to fisheries, recreation, and ports and other coastal dependent commercial uses, giving full consideration to environmental concerns as well as the need for economic development.
(e) Promote other coastal management improvements determined by the secretary to be consistent with the state’s coastal management program.
(Amended by Stats. 1996, Ch. 977, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 1997.)