Section 26240.

(a) In order to later quantify the costs and benefits of funded projects, an entity that receives funds from the Job Creation Fund shall authorize its local electric and gas utilities to provide 12 months of past and ongoing usage and billing records at the school facility site level to the Energy Commission.

(b) As a condition of receiving funds from the Job Creation Fund, not sooner than one year but no later than 15 months after an entity completes its first eligible project with a grant, loan, or other assistance from the Job Creation Fund, the entity shall submit a report of its project expenditures to the Citizens Oversight Board created pursuant to Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 26210). To the extent practical, this report shall also contain information on any of the following:

(1) The total final gross project cost before deducting any incentives or other grants and the percentage of total project cost derived from the Job Creation Fund.

(2) The estimated amount of energy saved, accompanied by specified energy consumption and utility bill cost data for the individual facility where the project is located, in a format to be specified by the Energy Commission.

(3) The nameplate rating of new clean energy generation installed.

(4) The number of trainees.

(5) The number of direct full-time equivalent employees and the average number of months or years of utilization of each of these employees.

(6) The amount of time between awarding of the financial assistance and the completion of the project or training activities.

(7) The entity's energy intensity before and after project completion, as determined from an energy rating or benchmark system, to be determined by the Energy Commission, such as the United States Environmental Protection Agency's Energy Star system or other acceptable benchmarking approach that may be available from local utilities, the American Society for Heating, Refrigerating, and Air-Conditioning Engineers, Inc., or a publicly available building analysis software as is appropriate to the size, budget, and expertise available to the school.

(c) If an LEA completes more than one project, the required information for a second and any subsequent project shall be submitted no later than the first full quarter following project completion.

(d) To minimize the calculation burden on LEAs, the Energy Commission shall develop a method to utilize the data submitted by each recipient LEA in its project reports, such as utility consumption data, building operating characteristics, and other information, to calculate for each project, LEA, or the state as a whole the actual or estimated energy and cost savings. This method shall include a means to combine gas and electric savings into a combined cost of saved energy factor and to report on other economic and investment performance metrics. The Energy Commission shall prepare an annual summary of the expenditures, energy savings, effective cost of saved energy or return on investment, and employment effects of each year's completed projects, and shall provide this report to the Citizens Oversight Board.

(e) The California Workforce Investment Board, in consultation with the Energy Commission, shall utilize the reports filed with the Citizens Oversight Board to quantify total employment affiliated with funded projects, as well as to estimate new trainee, apprentice, or full-time jobs resulting from Job Creation Fund activity. The California Workforce Investment Board shall prepare a report with this information annually and submit it to the Citizens Oversight Board.

(f) The Citizens Oversight Board shall report the information it receives pursuant to subdivisions (a) to (e), inclusive, to the Legislature as part of its responsibilities pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 26210. The Citizens Oversight Board's report shall be submitted annually and posted on a publicly accessible Internet Web site.

(g) Funding provided to LEAs pursuant to this chapter is subject to annual audits required by Section 41020 of the Education Code. Funding provided to community college districts pursuant to this chapter is subject to annual audits required by Section 84040 of the Education Code.

(h) (1) The Superintendent of Public Instruction shall require local education agencies to pay back funds if they are not used in accordance with state statute or regulations, if a project is torn down or remodeled, or if the property is deemed to be surplus and sold prior to the payback of the project.

(2) The Chancellor of the California Community Colleges shall require a community college to pay back funds if they are not used in accordance with state statute or regulations, if a project is torn down or remodeled, or if the property is deemed to be surplus and sold prior to the payback of the project.

(Added by Stats. 2013, Ch. 29, Sec. 2. Effective June 27, 2013.)