(

a) Prior to awarding grants pursuant to

Section 14041, the board shall develop and adopt guidelines and policies for the program, including, but not limited to, required regional plan content, required and optional regional plan partners, required activities of the regional partnerships, and guidelines for the allocation of grants, including planning guidance, timelines, and selection criteria for the distribution and evaluation of grant awards. The board shall consider factors including, but not limited to, the need for workforce services for the formerly incarcerated and justice-involved individuals in each region, the size of post-release populations, and the recidivism rate in each region. (

b) The board shall ensure that the guidelines developed pursuant to subdivision (

a) are consistent with paragraph (7) of subdivision (

b) of

Section 1234.2 of, and subdivision (

b) and paragraph (1) of subdivision (

e) of

Section 1234.3 of, the Penal Code, and

Section of, and paragraph (4) of subdivision (

c) and paragraphs (3) and (4) of subdivision (

d) of

Section of, this code. (

c) Grants made pursuant to this

article shall be evaluated using criteria consistent with those set forth in subdivisions (

b) to (d), inclusive, of Sections 14033. The board may utilize additional criteria to evaluate these grants. (d)

(1) The criteria guidelines, and policies shall be exempt from the rulemaking provisions of the Administrative Procedures Act (Chapter 3.5 (commencing with

Section 11340) of Part of Division of Title of the Government Code).

(2) The board shall make the criteria, guidelines, and policies available to the public.