California Code, Health and Safety Code - HSC § 100860.1

(a) At the time of application for ELAP certification and annually thereafter, from the date of the issuance of the certificate, a laboratory shall pay an ELAP certification fee, according to the fee schedule established by the State Water Resources Control Board pursuant to Section 100829.

(b) State and local government-owned laboratories in California performing work only in a reference capacity as a reference laboratory are exempt from the payment of the fees prescribed pursuant to Section 100829.

(c) In addition to the payment of fees authorized by Section 100829, laboratories certified or applying for certification shall pay directly to the designated proficiency testing provider the cost of the proficiency testing study.

(d) For the purpose of this section, a reference laboratory is a laboratory owned and operated by a governmental regulatory agency for the principal purpose of analyzing samples referred by another governmental regulatory agency or another laboratory for confirmatory analysis.