Wat. Code, § 79706

(a) Prior to disbursing grants or loans pursuant to this division, each state agency that receives an appropriation from the funding made available by this division to administer a competitive grant or loan program under this division shall develop and adopt project solicitation and evaluation guidelines. The guidelines shall include monitoring and reporting requirements and may include a limitation on the dollar amount of grants or loans to be awarded. If the state agency has previously developed and adopted project solicitation and evaluation guidelines that comply with the requirements of this subdivision, it may use those guidelines.

(b) Prior to disbursing grants or loans, the state agency shall conduct three public meetings to consider public comments prior to finalizing the guidelines. The state agency shall publish the draft solicitation and evaluation guidelines on its Internet Web site at least 30 days before the public meetings. One meeting shall be conducted at a location in northern California, one meeting shall be conducted at a location in the central valley of California, and one meeting shall be conducted at a location in southern California. Upon adoption, the state agency shall transmit copies of the guidelines to the fiscal committees and the appropriate policy committees of the Legislature.