Section 116590.

(a)  All funds received by the department pursuant to this chapter, including, but not limited to, all civil penalties collected by the department pursuant to Article 9 (commencing with Section 116650) and Article 11 (commencing with Section 116725), shall be deposited into the Safe Drinking Water Account that is hereby established. Funds in the Safe Drinking Water Account may not be expended for any purpose other than as set forth in this chapter. All moneys collected by the department pursuant to Sections 116565 to 116600, inclusive, shall be deposited into the Safe Drinking Water Account for use by the department, upon appropriation by the Legislature, for the purpose of providing funds necessary to administer this chapter.

(b)  The department's hourly cost rate used to determine the reimbursement for actual costs pursuant to Sections 116565, 116577, and 116580 shall be based upon the department's salaries, benefits, travel expense, operating, equipment, administrative support, and overhead costs.

(c)  Notwithstanding Section 6103 of the Government Code, each public water system operating under a permit issued pursuant to this chapter shall pay the fees set forth in this chapter. A public water system shall be permitted to collect a fee from its customers to recover the fees paid pursuant to this chapter.

(d)  The fees collected pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 116565 and subdivision (b) of Section 116570 shall be adjusted annually pursuant to Section 100425, and the adjusted fee amounts shall be rounded off to the nearest whole dollar.

(e)  Fees assessed pursuant to this chapter shall not exceed actual costs to either the department or the local primacy agency, as the case may be, related to the public water systems assessed the fees.

(f)  In no event shall the total amount of funds received pursuant to subdivision (a) of Section 116565, and subdivision (a) of Section 116577 from public water systems serving 1,000 or more service connections exceed the following:

(1)  For the 2001–02 fiscal year, seven million dollars ($7,000,000).

(2)  For the 2002–03 fiscal year and subsequent fiscal years, the total amount of funds shall not increase by more than 5 percent of the amount collected for the previous fiscal year.

(g)  The department shall develop a time accounting standard designed to do all of the following:

(1)  Provide accurate time accounting.

(2)  Provide accurate invoicing based upon hourly rates comparable to private sector professional classifications and comparable rates charged by other states for comparable services. These rates shall be applied against the time spent by the actual individuals who perform the work.

(3)  Establish work standards that address work tasks, timing, completeness, limits on redirection of effort, and limits on the time spent in the aggregate for each activity.

(4)  Establish overhead charge-back limitations, including, but not limited to, charge-back limitations on charges relating to reimbursement of services provided to the department by other departments and agencies of the state, that reasonably relate to the performance of the function.

(5)  Provide appropriate invoice controls.

(Amended by Stats. 2001, Ch. 171, Sec. 11. Effective August 10, 2001.)