13444.
(a) The Waterway Recovery Account is hereby created in the Waste Discharge Permit Fund.(b) Fifty percent of the annual proceeds of the State Water Pollution Cleanup and Abatement Account, excluding administratively imposed civil liabilities that include a supplemental environmental project in connection with a monetary penalty, shall be annually transferred to the Waterway Recovery Account.
(c) Notwithstanding Section 13340 of the Government Code, moneys in the Waterway Recovery Account are hereby continuously appropriated to the state board without regard to fiscal years to expend on all of the following:
(1) Restoration projects, including supplemental environmental projects, that improve water quality. The state board shall allocate no less than 30 percent of the Waterway Recovery Account moneys to each regional board on an equitable basis based on moneys generated in each region. Regional boards shall allocate those moneys to third parties, and priority shall be given to projects with multiple benefits that provide greenspace within disadvantaged communities. Regional boards shall use moneys from the Waterway Recovery Account to fund, to the best of their ability, projects with a significant nexus to the community harmed by the original water quality violation.
(2) Pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 189.7, a community capacity program to increase disadvantaged and tribal community participation in state board and regional board outreach and regulatory processes, including, but not limited to, all of the
following:
(A) Increasing disadvantaged and tribal community stakeholder participation.
(B) Improving language access.
(C) Improving access to data and information on racial equity.
(D) Improving communication with communities and partners.
(E) Bridging the digital divide to increase public participation in underserved communities.
(3) The Clean Water Team Citizen Monitoring Program to increase water quality monitoring to inform the state’s integrated report or to establish a priority water-contact recreation site monitoring program that includes posting and notification of water quality hazards at identified water bodies.
The state board shall prioritize moneys to increase monitoring for inland waterways in overburdened communities, as defined in paragraph (4) of subdivision (e) of Section 115917 of the Health and Safety Code.
(d) Moneys in this section may be allocated for ongoing implementation and are not required to be spent on discrete projects.