(a) All allocations from the Nutrition Reserve Fund shall be approved by the Director of Finance prior to issuance.

(b) The funds shall be used to maintain existing nutrition services when it is determined that no federal funds are available for this purpose. To the extent funds are available in the initial appropriation under Chapter 1189 of the Statutes of 1979, Nutrition Reserve Fund moneys may be used for increased cost per meal resulting from inflation and increased number of participants in existing projects resulting from the fact that inflation is causing more seniors on fixed incomes to fall below the poverty level.

(c) When appropriated by the Legislature, the Nutrition Reserve Fund, not to exceed an aggregate total of one million dollars ($1,000,000), may be used to extend or implement innovative nutrition demonstration projects.

(d) In addition, one million dollars ($1,000,000) of the fund shall constitute a revolving loan account from which the Department of Aging may extend loans, without interest, not to exceed three hundred thousand dollars ($300,000) per loan to be repaid from yearend balances in any senior nutrition project.

(e) In order to qualify for funds from the Nutrition Reserve Fund a nutrition project shall be required to seek from the community in which it is located, a matching grant in the amount equal to 5 percent of the requested allocation. The matching grant may be in the form of in-kind services, unless these services are presently being used as the basis for a matching grant for the project. In addition, if all other alternatives are exhausted to meet the 5-percent federal matching requirement required in PL 95-478, the Department of Aging may allocate funds from the Nutrition Reserve Fund as are necessary to meet this 5-percent match requirement. These funds may be used to maintain existing services, one-time major expenditures or to expand services to fulfill unmet needs. Thirty days prior to allocating funds from the Nutrition Reserve Fund for the purpose of meeting the 5-percent federal matching requirement, the Department of Aging shall advise the Assembly Committee on Aging, the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, and the fiscal committees in both houses of its plan for these allocations.

(f) When a nutrition project receives an allocation of funds from the Nutrition Reserve Fund due to the presence of fiscal difficulties, the Department of Aging shall, in conjunction with the applicable local area agency on aging and the nutrition project receiving these funds, take immediate action to determine the reason for the project’s fiscal difficulties.

(Amended by Stats. 1992, Ch. 713, Sec. 60. Effective September 15, 1992.)