(a) (1) Except as provided in paragraph (2), the office may pay and reimburse the film costs incurred by a public agency, subject to an audit. The director of the commission shall develop alternate procedures for the reimbursement of public agency costs incurred by the production company. The office shall only reimburse actual costs incurred and may not reimburse for duplicative costs.

(2) Notwithstanding paragraph (1), the office shall not reimburse costs at rates exceeding those in effect as of January 1, 2002.

(b) Notwithstanding any other provision of law, the Controller shall pay any program invoice received from the office that contains documentation detailing the film costs, and if the party requesting payment or reimbursement is a public agency, a certification that the invoice is not duplicative cost recovery, and an agreement by the public agency that the office may audit the public agency for invoice compliance with the program requirements.

(c) (1) Not more than three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) shall be expended to pay or reimburse costs incurred on any one film.

(2) In developing the procedures and guidelines for the program, the commission may, in consultation with interested public agencies, establish limits on per day film costs that the state will reimburse. A consultation and comment period shall begin on January 1, 2001, and shall end 30 days thereafter.

(d) (1) Upon receipt of all necessary film costs documentation from a public agency, the office shall transmit the appropriate information to the Controller for payment of the film costs within 30 days.

(2) Public agencies shall be entitled to reimbursement for certain administrative costs, to be determined by the director of the commission, incurred while participating in the program. The reimbursement for administrative costs shall not exceed 1 percent of the total amount of the invoices submitted. Reimbursement shall have an annual cap imposed of not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000) per public agency participating in the program. Contracted agents working on behalf of two or more public agencies shall have a cap of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000) annually.

(e) The commission shall prepare annual preliminary reports to be submitted to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee in regard to the program prior to the adoption of the annual Budget Act. The reports shall include a list of all entities that received funds from the program, the amounts they received, and the public services that were reimbursed. The commission shall prepare and submit a final report to the committee no later than January 1, 2004.

(f) The commission shall, in consultation with the Department of Industrial Relations and the Employment Development Department, contract with an independent audit firm or qualified academic expert, to prepare a report to be submitted to the Joint Legislative Budget Committee no later than January 1, 2004, that identifies the beneficiaries of expenditures from the Film California First Fund, and determines the impact of these expenditures on job retention and job creation in California.

(Amended by Stats. 2013, Ch. 352, Sec. 297. (AB 1317) Effective September 26, 2013. Operative July 1, 2013, by Sec. 543 of Ch. 352.)