(a) Expenditures made by any local social services district for the care and maintenance of children in foster care shall be reimbursed by the department only to the extent that such expenditures do not exceed the district foster care apportionment amount.

(b) Subdivision (a) of this section notwithstanding, a district may apply for reimbursement for its excess foster care expenditures and may receive such reimbursement, provided that:

(c) Approvals for reimbursement for excess foster care expenditures pursuant to paragraph (b)(1) or (2) of this section shall be considered valid for a period not to exceed 90 days.

(d) Approval of reimbursement for excess foster care expenditures which is applied for pursuant to paragraph (b)(1) or (2) of this section shall apply only to expenditures for the care and maintenance of children who are in foster care due to a natural disaster or emergency, extraordinary or unforeseen circumstance. Applications for reimbursement for excess foster care expenditures for other children shall comply with the provisions of paragraph (b)(3) of this section.

(e) The department shall notify the district within 30 days of receipt of the application whether its application for reimbursement of excess foster care expenditures has been approved, disapproved, or received interim approval pursuant to subdivision (f) of this section. In the event that the department fails to notify the district within that time, the application shall be considered to have received interim approval as of 30 days from the date of receipt of the application. The extent of the total reimbursement by the State to districts for the care and maintenance of children in foster care shall be subject to the State foster care appropriation.

(f) The department shall notify the district that its application pursuant to paragraph (b)(3) of this section has been granted interim approval only if the district has met all requirements of such paragraph (3) other than those relating to Social Services Law, section 398-b, and no utilization review pursuant to section 398-b of the Social Services Law has taken place within the 12 months prior to the date of the application. In this event, the department shall conduct such a review within 120 days of the date of the application and final approval or disapproval of the application shall be dependent on the findings of the utilization review.

(g) In the event that a district has been denied reimbursement for some or all of its foster care expenditures pursuant to the provision of Social Services Law, section 153-d or 398-b, such expenditures shall be deemed to have been reimbursed for the purposes of determining whether the district's reimbursable foster care expenditures exceed the district foster care apportionment amount.

(h) A determination by the department denying additional reimbursement to a social services district for excess foster care expenditures pursuant to this section shall be made after an adjudicatory hearing in accordance with article 3 of the State Administrative Procedure Act.