(a) There is hereby created in the State Treasury the State Child Care Capital Outlay Fund. Notwithstanding § 13340 of the Government Code, all moneys in the State Child Care Capital Outlay Fund, including moneys deposited in that fund from any source whatsoever, shall be continuously appropriated without regard to fiscal year for expenditure pursuant to the provisions of this chapter. The fund shall be administered by the State Allocation Board, which may authorize the expenditure of any moneys in the fund for capital outlay projects pursuant to Section 10307 or this chapter. Funds in the State Child Care Facilities Fund set aside for the purposes of providing extended day care facilities pursuant to Section 8477 shall be transferred to the State Child Care Capital Outlay Fund upon the effective date of the act amending this section in the 1997-98 Regular Session.

(b) The department shall establish the qualifications to determine the eligibility of child care and development agencies, including those that provide preschool and extended day care services, to lease relocatable facilities under this section.

(c) Although primary use of relocatable facilities shall be for child care and development programs, including preschool and extended day care programs, those facilities may be used for other purposes if the following conditions are met:

(1) The alternative use of the facility does not infringe upon the accessibility of child care and development programs including preschool or extended day care programs.

(2) The department authorizes alternative use as being compatible with child care and development programs, including preschool or extended day care programs.

(d) The State Allocation Board, with the advice of the department, may do all of the following:

(1) Establish any procedures and policies in connection with the administration of this section that it deems necessary.

(2) Adopt any rules and regulations for the administration of this section requiring those procedures, forms, and information that it deems necessary.

(3) Have constructed, furnished, equipped, or otherwise require whatever work is necessary to place relocatable facilities for child care and development services, including preschool and extended day care services where needed.

(e) The board shall lease relocatable facilities to qualifying agencies providing child care and development services, including preschool or extended day care services, and shall charge rent of one dollar ($1) per year. The board shall require lessees to undertake all necessary maintenance, repairs, renewal, and replacement to ensure that a project is at all times kept in good repair, working order, and condition. All costs incurred for this purpose shall be borne by the lessee. Neither the board nor the state shall assume any responsibility for utility services costs other than initial installation costs reimbursed under this chapter, and the agency shall provide adequate safeguards to protect the state’s interest in this regard.

(f) The board shall require lessees to insure at their own expense for the benefit of the state, any leased relocatable facility that is the property of the state, against any risks, including liability from the use thereof, in the amounts the board deems necessary to protect the interests of the state. Neither the board nor the state shall assume any responsibility for utility services costs other than initial installation costs reimbursed under this chapter, and the agency shall provide adequate safeguards to protect the state’s interest in this regard.

(g) No relocatable facilities shall be made available to an agency unless the agency furnishes evidence, satisfactory to the board, that the agency has no other facility available for rental, lease, or purchase in the geographic service area that is economically or otherwise feasible.

(h) The board shall have prepared for its use, performance specifications for relocatable facilities and bids for their construction that can be solicited from more than one responsible bidder. The board shall from time to time solicit bids from, and award to, the lowest responsible competitive bidder, contracts for the construction or purchase of relocatable facilities that have been approved for lease to eligible agencies that provide child care and development services, including preschool or extended day care services.

(i) If at any time the board determines that a lessees’ need for particular relocatable facilities that were made available to the lessee pursuant to this chapter has ceased, the board may take possession of the relocatable facilities and may lease them to other eligible contracting agencies, or, if there is no longer a need for the relocatable facilities, the board may dispose of them to public or private parties in the manner it deems to be in the best interests of the state.

(j) If a lessee uses a particular relocatable facility for only a portion of the year, the board may enter into a second lease with a public or private party for the use of that facility for the portion of the year during which the facility would otherwise be unused, in the manner it deems to be in the best interests of the state. The lessee shall be subject to subdivisions (d) and (f).

(Added by Stats. 2021, Ch. 116, Sec. 260. (AB 131) Effective July 23, 2021.)