§ 39960

(a) (1) The Wildfire Smoke Clean Air Centers for Vulnerable Populations Incentive Pilot Program is hereby established to be administered by the state board to provide funding through a grant program to retrofit ventilation systems to create a network of clean air centers in order to mitigate the adverse public health impacts due to wildfires and other smoke events.

(2) Moneys for the program shall be available upon appropriation by the Legislature.

(b) Qualified applicants shall include, but need not be limited to, all of the following:

(1) Schools.

(2) Community centers.

(3) Senior centers.

(4) Sports centers.

(5) Libraries.

(c) The state board shall develop guidelines and eligibility criteria for the program in consultation with districts, cities, counties, public health agencies, school districts, and other stakeholders. The guidelines and eligibility criteria shall consider all of the following:

(1) Identification of vulnerable populations, including, but not limited to, communities with diverse racial and ethnic populations and communities with low-income communities, as defined in Section 39713.

(2) Location of the applicant’s facility relative to local vulnerable populations.

(3) Capacity of the applicant’s facility.

(4) Facility ventilation characteristics that could provide healthier indoor air quality in the event of a localized smoke impact.

(d) (1) The state board shall prioritize applications to the program where the project is located in an area with documented high cumulative smoke exposure burden.

(2) Within areas described in paragraph (1), the state board shall give priority to a school maintained by a local educational agency that has at least 40 percent of its pupils being from low-income families, as specified pursuant to Title I of the federal Elementary and Secondary Act of 1965 (20 U.S.C. Sec. 6301 et seq.).

(Added by Stats. 2019, Ch. 393, Sec. 1. (AB 836) Effective January 1, 2020. Repealed as of January 1, 2025, pursuant to Section 39961.)