(a) There is hereby established the Immediate and Critical Needs Account of the State Court Facilities Construction Fund, the proceeds of which shall only be used for any of the following:
(1) The planning, design, construction, rehabilitation, renovation, replacement, or acquisition of court facilities.
(2) Repayment for moneys appropriated for lease of court facilities pursuant to the issuance of lease-revenue bonds.
(3) Payment for lease or rental of court facilities or payment of service contracts, including those made for facilities in which one or more private sector participants undertake some of the risks associated with the financing, design, construction, or operation of the facility.
(4) For trial court operations, as defined in Section 77003.
(b) Any funds expended from the Immediate and Critical Needs Account are not subject to Section 77202.
(c) Notwithstanding Section 13340, until July 1, 2012, the Immediate and Critical Needs Account is hereby continuously appropriated, without regard to fiscal year, only for the purposes of acquiring real property and completing preliminary plans.
(d) It is the intent of the Legislature that the money in the Immediate and Critical Needs Account shall be used in part to pay the debt service of lease revenue bonds, notes, bond anticipation notes, or other appropriate financial instruments used to pay for the costs referred to in subdivision (a) in the amount of up to five billion dollars ($5,000,000,000). The total bonded indebtedness shall not exceed that amount for which fine and fee revenues may fully satisfy the debt service.
(e) The Judicial Council shall collect and make available upon request information regarding the moneys deposited in the Immediate and Critical Needs Account resulting from new and increased fees, assessments, and penalties authorized by the act that added this section.
(f) (1) The Judicial Council shall make recommendations to the State Public Works Board before it undertakes projects based on its determination that the need for a project is most immediate and critical using the then most recent version of the Prioritization Methodology for Trial Court Capital-Outlay Projects originally adopted on August 26, 2006, subject to the availability of funds in the Immediate and Critical Needs Account. Any such recommendation shall be accompanied by a certification that there are sufficient funds in the Immediate and Critical Needs Account. The State Public Works Board shall establish the scope and cost for each individual project.
(2) The Legislature finds that there may not be enough resources to pay for the cost of the projects identified as immediate and critical needs by the Judicial Council pursuant to its Prioritization Methodology for Trial Court Capital-Outlay Projects originally adopted on August 26, 2006, even after considering any bonded indebtedness that may be issued relying at least in part on those resources. Therefore, in choosing which projects shall be recommended to the State Public Works Board to be funded from the Immediate and Critical Needs Account, the Judicial Council shall consider and apply, as appropriate, the following factors, among others:
(A) Any economic opportunity that exists for a project.
(B) The effect on available resources of using alternative methods of project delivery as provided by Section 70391.5.
(3) Nothing in paragraph (2) shall authorize the Judicial Council to exceed the resources provided by the Immediate and Critical Needs Account, together with other available resources, in undertaking projects identified as immediate and critical needs.
(4) As used in paragraph (2), “economic opportunity” includes, but is not limited to, free or reduced costs of land for new construction, viable financing partnerships with, or fund contributions by, other government entities or private parties that result in lower project delivery costs, cost savings resulting from adaptive reuse of existing facilities, operational efficiencies from consolidation of court calendars and operations, operational savings from sharing of facilities by more than one court, and building operational cost savings from consolidation of facilities.
(5) The Judicial Council shall not consider and apply an economic opportunity unless it is reasonably assured that the economic opportunity is viable and will be realized. If a project is selected for funding based on an economic opportunity that is withdrawn after the project is approved, the Judicial Council may cancel the project.
(g) Notwithstanding any law, the Controller may use the funds in the Immediate and Critical Needs Account of the State Court Facilities Construction Fund for cashflow loans to the General Fund as provided in Sections 16310 and 16381.
(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 41, Sec. 38. (SB 1021) Effective June 27, 2012.)