(a) There is in state government the Tribal Nation Grant Panel.

(b) (1) The panel shall be composed of nine total members, of which seven are voting members and two are alternate nonvoting members.

(2) Four members who are authorized to vote are required to establish a quorum for the transaction of business of the panel. The panel may take an action by a majority vote of a quorum, except that the panel shall only award a grant or approve a distribution from the fund by an approval vote of four or more members who are authorized to vote.

(3) A member may voluntarily recuse the member’s own self from the consideration of a grant application or a particular agenda item.

(4) If one or two of the seven voting members recuse themselves from the consideration of or voting on a grant application or a particular agenda item, or do not attend a meeting of the panel, the adviser may select an alternate nonvoting member to act in the place of the recused or absent voting member for the consideration of and voting on the grant application or agenda item, or for that meeting.

(c) (1) Before January 1, 2020, all members shall be appointed by the adviser for a term of one year. The adviser may extend the term of a member for up to one year or fill a vacancy by appointing a new member. Applicable to an appointment made pursuant to this paragraph, the adviser shall only appoint an individual who is an elected tribal leader from a federally recognized tribe in California and shall endeavor to establish a panel that represents the diversity of tribes in California. No member appointed pursuant to this paragraph shall serve on the panel on or after January 1, 2020, unless separately appointed pursuant to a process authorized in paragraph (2).

(2) The adviser and panel, as comprised before January 1, 2020, in consultation with federally recognized tribes in California, shall determine how members of the panel are appointed on and after January 1, 2020. The adviser and panel, as comprised on and after January 1, 2020, in consultation with federally recognized tribes in California, may, from time to time, amend how members of the panel are appointed as they jointly determine is necessary to fairly and equitably achieve the purposes for which the fund was created.

(d) The adviser is not a member of the panel but shall preside over the meetings of the panel in an administrative capacity. The adviser shall advise the panel on procedures for the business of the panel and encourage the use of procedures that allow for a fair process to evaluate grant applications and consider other distributions from the fund that best serves all eligible tribes.

(e) A member of the panel who attends a meeting, regardless of whether the member votes, shall be compensated a one-hundred-dollar ($100) per diem for each day a meeting is held and the actual, reasonable travel expenses to attend that meeting.

(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 28, Sec. 63. (SB 1380) Effective January 1, 2023.)