(a) The department shall administer 50 percent of the funds, and the board shall administer the remaining 50 percent of the funds, made available to the program described in Sections 79560 and 79561.
(b) For projects proposed to be funded pursuant to Section 79560 that include any modification of a river or stream channel, the state agency making the grant, prior to the award of the grant, shall determine whether the environmental impacts resulting from that modification will be fully mitigated by considering all of the impacts of that modification and any mitigation, environmental enhancement, and environmental benefit resulting from the project, and determining whether, on balance, any environmental enhancement or benefit equals or exceeds any negative environmental impacts of the project. The costs of mitigation or enhancement may be included in the project costs eligible for funding pursuant to Section 79560.
(c) This section shall become operative only if the Water Security, Clean Drinking Water, Coastal and Beach Protection Act of 2002 is approved by the voters at the November 5, 2002, statewide general election.
(Added by Stats. 2002, Ch. 618, Sec. 1. Effective January 1, 2003. Note: Operational condition in subd. (c) was satisfied by approval of Prop. 50 on Nov. 5, 2002. See Sec. 2 of Ch. 618 for other provisions relating to Prop. 50.)