(a) The state board shall establish a program, in consultation with the State Department of Education, to award grants to local educational agencies for the purposes of improving access to, and the quality of, drinking water in public schools consistent with the Legislature’s intent that school facilities be maintained in “good repair,” as defined in paragraph (1) of subdivision (d) of § 17002 of the Education Code. Eligible entities shall be limited to local educational agencies serving kindergarten or any of grades 1 to 12, inclusive, and preschools and child day care facilities, as defined in Section 1596.750, located on public school property. The program shall include, but not be limited to, funding for at least one of the following:

(1) Installation of water bottle filling stations.

(2) Installation or replacement of drinking water fountains with devices that are capable of removing contaminants that are present in the facility’s water supply.

(3) Installation of point-of-entry or point-of-use treatment devices for drinking fountains, and up to three years of postinstallation replacement filters, and operation, maintenance, and monitoring of the devices, including training on how to operate and maintain the treatment devices and community outreach and education about their use.

(b) The state board shall implement the program by taking actions that include, but are not necessarily limited to, the development of procedures and guidelines for the submission of grant applications and criteria for the evaluation of those applications.

(c) (1) In developing the procedure for awarding grants pursuant to this section, the state board shall do all of the following:

(A) Set requirements for grant recipients to adopt a program for inspecting and maintaining any water treatment device funded by the grant.

(B) Establish a maximum grant amount.

(C) Give priority to each of the following:

(i) Projects for schools within, or serving pupils from, a small disadvantaged community, as defined in § 13193.9 of the Water Code.

(ii) Projects that have high effectiveness in increasing access to safe drinking water at schools.

(2) In developing the procedure for awarding grants pursuant to this section, the state board may require applicants to commit additional resources to the project, except that the state board shall not require matching funds for local educational agencies serving small disadvantaged communities or interfere with the prioritization of grant funding to small disadvantaged communities.

(d) (1) Procedures and guidelines for the program developed by the state board under this section are not be subject to Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

(2) Before finalizing the procedures and guidelines for the distribution of grants pursuant to this section, the state board shall hold at least one public meeting to receive and consider public comment on the draft procedures and guidelines.

(e) The state board shall provide technical assistance to applicants, including completing applications, overseeing installations, and assisting with operation and maintenance.

(f) A contract entered into under the authority of this section is not be subject to § 10295 of the Public Contract Code.

(Added by Stats. 2016, Ch. 29, Sec. 32. (SB 828) Effective June 27, 2016.)