116761.20. (a) Planning and preliminary engineering studies, project design, and construction costs incurred by a community water system or not-for-profit noncommunity water system may be funded under this chapter.
(b) (1) The board shall determine what portion of the full costs the water system is capable of repaying and may authorize funding in the form of a loan or other repayable financing for up to that amount.
(2) Where an otherwise eligible water system is not a water corporation regulated by the Public Utilities Commission and serves a severely disadvantaged community with fewer than 200 service connections, the water system is deemed to have no ability to repay any financing for a project serving the severely disadvantaged community.
(c) At the request of the board, the Public Utilities Commission shall submit comments concerning the ability of water systems, subject to its jurisdiction, to finance the project from other sources and to repay the financing.
(Amended by Stats. 2022, Ch. 680, Sec. 3. (SB 1188) Effective January 1, 2023.)