(a) The California Youth Soccer and Recreation Development Program is hereby created in the department. The department shall administer the program, which is intended to provide assistance to local agencies and community-based organizations with regard to funding, and fostering the development of, new youth soccer, baseball, softball, and basketball recreation opportunities in the state.

(b) The California Youth Soccer and Recreation Development Fund is hereby created in the State Treasury, to be used as a repository of funds derived from federal, state, and private sources to be used for the program.

(c) The department shall award grants, on a competitive basis, to local agencies and community-based organizations for the purposes of the program, subject to an appropriation therefor. The department shall also develop eligibility guidelines for the award of grants that give preference to those communities that provide matching funds for grants, and that are heavily populated, low-income urban areas with a high youth crime and unemployment rate. The guidelines shall also require that preference be given to those inner city properties that may be leased for periods of at least five years or more for recreational purposes. The department shall conduct public hearings throughout the state prior to final adoption of eligibility guidelines.

(d) Any regulation, guideline, or procedural guide adopted or developed pursuant to this section is not subject to the review or approval of the Office of Administrative Law or to any other requirement of Chapter 3.5 (commencing with Section 11340) of Part 1 of Division 3 of Title 2 of the Government Code.

(e) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the following meanings:

(1) “Community-based organization” means an organization that enters into a cooperative agreement with the department pursuant to Section 513, a nonprofit group or organization, or a friends of parks group or organization of a city, county, city and county, and regional park. All community-based organizations shall have a current tax-exempt status as a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the federal Internal Revenue Code.

(2) “Local agency” means a city, county, city and county, park and recreation district, open-space district, or school district.

(f) This section shall be implemented only upon appropriation of sufficient funds to the department for that purpose.

(g) All funds received by the department pursuant to this section shall be encumbered within three years of the date of the appropriation and expended within eight years from the date of the appropriation.

(h) Nothing in this section is intended to prohibit community-based organizations from acting in partnership with organizations that do not have tax-exempt status as a nonprofit organization under Section 501(c)(3) of the federal Internal Revenue Code.

(Amended by Stats. 2012, Ch. 728, Sec. 139. (SB 71) Effective January 1, 2013.)