(a) The Judicial Council shall establish a planning and advisory group consisting of appropriate professional and program specialists to recommend on the development of program guidelines and funding procedures consistent with this chapter. At a minimum, the council shall adopt program guidelines consistent with the guidelines established by the National Court Appointed Special Advocate Association, and with California law, but the council may require additional or more stringent standards. State funding shall be contingent on a program adopting and adhering to the program guidelines adopted by the council.

(b) The program guidelines adopted by the council shall be adopted and incorporated into local rules of court by each participating superior court as a prerequisite to funding pursuant to this chapter.

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(c) The council shall adopt program guidelines and criteria for funding that encourage multicounty CASA programs where appropriate, and shall not provide for funding more than one program per county.

(d) The council shall establish, in a timely fashion, a request-for-proposal process to establish, maintain, or expand local CASA programs and may require local matching funds or in-kind funds not to exceed the proposal request. The maximum state grant per county program per year shall not exceed seventy thousand dollars ($70,000) in counties in which the population is less than 700,000 and shall not exceed one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000) in counties in which the population is 700,000 or more, according to the annual population report provided by the Department of Finance.

(Amended by Stats. 2020, Ch. 36, Sec. 45. (AB 3364) Effective January 1, 2021.)