(a) Thirty percent of the revenues received and deposited in the Geothermal Resources Development Account shall be available for expenditure by the commission as grants or loans to local jurisdictions or private entities without regard to fiscal years. These revenues shall be held by the commission in the Local Government Geothermal Resources Revolving Subaccount, which is hereby created in the Geothermal Resources Development Account. Loan repayments shall be deposited in the subaccount and shall be used for making additional grants and loans pursuant to Section 3823.
(b) No local jurisdiction shall be eligible to apply for a grant or loan pursuant to this section unless its governing body approves the application by resolution.
(c) Each recipient of a grant or loan made pursuant to this section shall establish, for the deposit of the revenues, an account or fund that is separate from the other accounts and funds of the recipient, and may expend the revenues only for the purposes specified in this chapter.
(d) The commission shall make grants and loans pursuant to this section irrespective of whether a local jurisdiction is a county of origin.
(e) Any of the revenues that are not disbursed as grants or loans pursuant to this section during the fiscal year received shall be retained in the subaccount and may be disbursed as grants or loans pursuant to this section in succeeding fiscal years.
(f) (1) Any loan made under this section shall:
(A) Not exceed 80 percent of the local jurisdiction’s costs.
(B) Be repaid together with interest within 20 years from receipt of the loan funds.
(2) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the commission shall, unless it determines that the purposes of this chapter would be better served by establishing an alternative interest rate schedule, periodically set interest rates on the loans based on surveys of existing financial markets and at rates not lower than the Pooled Money Investment Account.
(g) Any loan or grant made to a private entity under this section shall (1) be matched with at least an equal investment by the recipient, (2) provide tangible benefits, as determined by the commission, to a local jurisdiction, and (3) be approved by the city, county, or Indian reservation within which the project is to be located.
(h) The commission may require an award repayment or program reimbursement agreement of any recipient of a grant or loan made pursuant to this section.
(Amended by Stats. 1994, Ch. 553, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 1995.)