The Seismic Retrofit Bond Fund of 1996 is hereby created in the State Treasury. The proceeds of bonds issued and sold pursuant to this chapter for the purposes specified in this chapter are hereby appropriated, without regard to fiscal years, to the Department of Finance for allocation in the following manner:

(a) Two billion dollars ($2,000,000,000) for the seismic retrofit of state-owned highways and bridges, including toll bridges, throughout the state. Funds allocated by the California Transportation Commission for this purpose shall be deposited in the 1996 Seismic Retrofit Account, which is hereby created in the fund, and, upon deposit, are continuously appropriated to the Department of Transportation. Funds may be used to match any available federal funds for transportation purposes or may be used without matching federal funds to reconstruct, replace, or retrofit state-owned highways and bridges, including toll bridges.

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(b) Funds described in this section shall be spent exclusively for the seismic retrofit of state-owned toll bridges in an amount equal to six hundred fifty million dollars ($650,000,000).

(c) The funds in the 1996 Seismic Retrofit Account are available for borrowing only for cash-flow purposes of the State Highway Account, and the funds borrowed shall be repaid to the account within one year. In addition, the proceeds of the bonds sold shall be used to reimburse the State Highway Account and the Consolidated Toll Bridge Fund for Phase Two retrofit expenditures incurred in the 1994-95 and 1995-96 fiscal years.

(Amended by Stats. 2001, Ch. 745, Sec. 75. Effective October 12, 2001. Note: This section was added by Stats. 1995, Ch. 310, and approved in Prop. 192 on March 26, 1996.)