The board may approve, in whole or in part, an application submitted by a school district under Section 16024 and in such amount, not exceeding the amount applied for, as the board may deem appropriate.

The board may, upon approval of the application, in whole or in part, and subsequently from time to time, make a conditional apportionment or conditional apportionments not exceeding in the aggregate the total amount determined by the board, to the applicant school district from the State School Building Aid Fund for that portion or portions of the construction project as the board determines the district is ready to proceed with. If the board has approved an application and made an apportionment as to a portion or portions of a construction project, the board may approve the remaining portion or portions of the construction project and make an additional apportionment or apportionments within five years after the original approval without requiring a district to issue additional bonds. The board may also make an additional apportionment or apportionments for a period of time in excess of five years after the original approval without requiring a district to issue additional bonds if it has made a finding that the additional apportionment or apportionments are justified by virtue of the fact that state funds were not available for apportionment within the two-year period after the original approval because of the inability of the state to sell authorized state bonds within the maximum permitted interest rate.

If the board determines that the actual cost is in excess of the estimated cost of the specific school plant facilities or sites for which an apportionment to a district has been made, or for which a district’s application has been approved in whole or in part pursuant to this section, the board may make an additional apportionment to the district in an amount equal to the excess even though the additional apportionment will result in the total apportionments to the district exceeding the amount of the application originally approved by the board. Before the additional apportionment becomes final the district, pursuant to Section 16058, shall hold an election to repay the amount of the additional apportionment which is in excess of the amount which the district has previously voted to repay. The additional apportionment shall become final when the county superintendent of schools transmits to the board and the Controller a certificate in duplicate stating that the school district has authorized the acceptance and expenditure of the necessary amount of the excess. If the additional apportionments are made by the board within five years after the original approval, except an apportionment made final pursuant to subdivision (c) of Section 16058, the district shall not be required to issue additional bonds.

Except as otherwise provided in this section, all provisions of this chapter relating to apportionments shall apply to apportionments made under this section.

Whenever an apportionment has heretofore been made or is hereafter made to a district for a site and the district heretofore or hereafter proposes to acquire the site through negotiation or condemnation but the total acquisition cost thereof, plus all other costs incidental to either the acquisition or condemnation of the site, exceeds or exceeded the apportionment for the site, the board may at any time hereafter make an additional apportionment to provide for the differential in total acquisition cost without the district being required to issue additional bonds to qualify, providing the board finds (1) that it is in the interest of the state to proceed with the acquisition despite the acquisition costs, and (2) that the district is unable to provide, or it would be a hardship to require it to provide, the excess costs. The board may also, in its discretion, as a condition of making the apportionment, require the district to repay in full all or any part of the excess apportionment, under the terms and conditions that the board deems desirable, and the district shall be empowered and obligated to comply if it accepts the excess apportionment, notwithstanding any other law to the contrary; provided, (1) that no the repayment shall be required from any source that would be exempt from required contribution toward the cost of a project under Sections 16024 and 16031 (excepting amounts in the General Fund raised by taxes to pay any judgment requiring the repayment), and (2) that any portion of the apportionment not required to be repaid in full, shall be repayable in the same manner as a construction apportionment.

Approval of an application under this section shall not be construed as creating or implying any obligation, commitment or promise on the part of the board or the state to make apportionments under this chapter.

(Repealed and added by Stats. 1996, Ch. 277, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 1997. Operative January 1, 1998.)