(a) The department, consistent with Section 14581 and subject to the availability of funds, shall annually pay a total of fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000) per fiscal year to operators of curbside programs and neighborhood dropoff programs that accept all types of empty beverage containers for recycling. The payments shall be for each container collected by the curbside or neighborhood dropoff programs and properly reported to the department by processors, based upon all of the following:

1. (1) The payment amount shall be calculated based upon the volume of beverage containers collected by curbside and neighborhood dropoff programs during the 12-month calendar year ending on December 31 of the fiscal year for which payments are to be made.
2. (2) The per-container rate shall be calculated by dividing the total volume of beverage containers collected, as determined pursuant to paragraph (1), into the sum of fifteen million dollars ($15,000,000).
3. (3) The amount to be paid to each operator of a curbside program or neighborhood dropoff program shall be based upon the per-container rate, calculated pursuant to paragraph (2), multiplied by the program’s total reported beverage container volume calculated pursuant to paragraph (1).