From the California Natural Resources Agency:
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The California Natural Resources Agency today released a draft schedule detailing the benchmarks for the first year of the ten year expenditure period of the water bond (Proposition 1) that was passed by voters in November 2014. Also, draft guidelines for applications for grants made available by the bond will be available on the Bond Accountability website to assist grant-making organizations and applicants.
“Voters overwhelmingly supported Proposition 1 in November because they understand how important it is to California’s water future to make sound, strategic investments,” said California Natural Resources Agency Secretary John Laird. “With funding from the bond, the California Water Action Plan provides a roadmap for investments in projects that provide water reliability, restore critical natural habitat, and ensures the resilience of our water delivery infrastructure.”
Laird continued: “The draft schedule and grant guidelines are a vital part of ensuring the transparent, expeditious, and accountable spending of the $7.5 billion bond.”
The requirements from the bond that must be met prior to funds being distributed are outlined below:
Draft Grant guidelines: The water bond requires that the creation of grant guidelines is a transparent and public process. Prior to disbursing grants or loans pursuant to the bond measure, each state agency that administers a competitive grant or loan program must develop and adopt project solicitation and evaluation guidelines. Additionally, before disbursing grants or loans, at least three public meetings are required throughout the state to consider public comments prior to finalizing the guidelines. Also, the draft solicitation and evaluation guidelines are required to be posted on the website of the issuing state entity at least 30 days before the public meetings.
Bond accountability website: For two of the past bonds (Proposition 84 and Proposition 1E), a centralized database has been used to store information on all bond programs and projects. This information is reported to the public via the Bond Accountability website , which posts information about how bond funds are spent and details about funded projects, and provides allocation balances twice-yearly. Proposition 1 information has been added to the website.
Public notice of all grant guidelines on Natural Resources Agency website: All Proposition 1 guidelines will be reviewed by the Secretary for Natural Resources and all guidelines will be posted to a central place on the Bond Accountability website.
Learn more about the California Water Action Plan .
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