BILL NUMBER: AB 2243 CHAPTERED 06/24/04 CHAPTER 60 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE JUNE 24, 2004 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR JUNE 23, 2004 PASSED THE SENATE JUNE 14, 2004 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY MAY 3, 2004 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY APRIL 16, 2004 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Vargas FEBRUARY 19, 2004 An act to amend Section 6 of the County Water Authority Act (Chapter 545 of the Statutes of 1943), relating to county water authorities. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 2243, Vargas. County water authorities: board of directors. The County Water Authority Act generally authorizes any member of the governing body of a member agency of a county water authority that is a water district, as defined, to be appointed by that member agency to the board of the authority to serve as the agency's representative, but, in the case of agencies with several representatives, prohibits the appointment of a majority of the members of the governing body of the agency to serve as representatives on the board of the authority. This bill would delete that reference to a water district, and would thereby authorize any member of the governing body of any member agency to be appointed by that member agency to the board of an authority to serve as the agency's representative. The bill would prohibit a majority of the members of the governing body of an agency from being appointed by the agency to serve as representatives on the board of the authority, and would allow, in the case of a member agency that is not a water district, only one of the representatives of that agency to be a member of the governing body of the agency. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. Section 6 of the County Water Authority Act (Chapter 545 of the Statutes of 1943) is amended to read: Sec. 6. (a) All powers, privileges, and duties vested in or imposed upon any authority incorporated under this act shall be exercised and performed by and through a board of directors. The exercise of any and all executive, administrative, and ministerial powers may be delegated by the board of directors to any of the offices created by this act or by the board of directors acting under this act. (b) The board of directors shall consist of at least one representative from each public agency, the area of which is within the authority. The representatives shall be designated and appointed by the chief executive officers of those public agencies, respectively, with the consent and approval of the legislative bodies of the public agencies, respectively. Any member of the governing body of a member agency may be appointed by that member agency to the board of the authority to serve as the agency's representative. A majority of the members of the governing body of an agency may not be appointed by the agency to serve as representatives on the board of the authority, and, for a member agency that is not a water district, only one of the representatives of that agency may be a member of the governing body of the agency. Any director holding dual offices shall not vote upon any contract between a county water authority and the member public agency he or she represents on the authority's board. As used in this subdivision, "water district" has the same meaning as in subdivision (a) of Section 10. (c) Members of the board of directors shall hold office for a term of six years, and until their successors are appointed and qualified. However, the terms of the members of the first board shall be determined by lot so that the terms of not less than one-half of the members shall be three years and the terms of the remainder shall be six years. Every member shall be subject to recall by the voters of the public agency from which that member is appointed, in accordance with the recall provisions of the freeholders' charter or other law applicable to the public agency. Notwithstanding that representatives are appointed for a fixed term of years, members of the board of directors serve at the will of the governing body of the public agency from which the member is appointed and may be removed by a majority vote of the governing body without a showing of good cause. (d) In addition to one representative, any public agency may, at its option, designate and appoint one additional representative for each full 5 percent of the assessed value of property taxable for authority purposes which is within the public agency. However, the term of office of any representative shall not be changed or terminated by reason of any future change in the assessed value of property within any member agency. (e) Each member of the board of directors shall be entitled to vote on all actions coming before the board and shall be entitled to cast one vote for each five million dollars ($5,000,000), or major fractional part thereof, of the total financial contribution paid to the authority that is attributable to the public agency of which the member is a representative provided that no public agency shall have votes that exceed the number of the total votes of all the other public agencies. A public agency with more than one representative shall have the option, by ordinance, to either require its representatives to cast all of that agency's votes as a unit, as a majority of the representatives present shall determine, or to entitle each such representative to cast an equal share of the total vote of such agency. A copy of the ordinance shall be delivered to the secretary of the board of directors. The affirmative votes of members representing more than 50 percent of the number of votes of all the members shall be necessary, and except as herein provided, sufficient to carry any action coming before the board of directors. If the public agency member having the largest total financial contribution to the authority has more than 38 percent of the total financial contribution to the authority, the affirmative votes of members representing more than 55 percent of the number of votes of all the members shall be necessary, except as herein provided, to carry any action coming before the board of directors. Any meeting may be adjourned, continued, or recessed from day to day or from time to time, by vote of the director or directors present, regardless of the number of directors present. (f) For the purposes of this section, "total financial contribution" includes all amounts paid in taxes, assessments, fees, and charges to or on behalf of the authority with respect to property located within the boundaries of member public agencies, including, but not limited to, standby charges, capacity charges, readiness to serve charges, connection and maintenance fees, annexation fees and charges for water delivered to member public agencies by the authority excluding the cost of treatment for the water. The total financial contribution shall be determined by the board of directors at the end of each fiscal year. Allocation of voting power shall be reestablished by the board of directors on January 1 of each year based upon the calculation determined for the previous fiscal year. (g) Subject to confirmation by his or her public agency, a member of the board of directors may designate another member of the board of directors to vote in his or her absence. The designation and the confirmation shall be by a written instrument filed with the authority. If a director will be absent and wishes the designee to cast the vote, a written notice shall be filed with the secretary of the board of directors. If the notice is not received by the authority, the vote of the absent director will not be counted. The designation, confirmation, and notices shall be maintained on file with the authority. The designation may be changed from time to time with the confirmation of the representative's agency. The designation shall not direct how the absent representative's vote shall be cast on any matter. Directors from a public agency represented by more than one director shall be deemed confirmed as designated representatives to vote for absent directors from that public agency. This section does not apply to a public agency that has exercised the option under subdivision (e) to cast all of that agency's votes as a unit. (h) Notwithstanding subdivision (f), the total financial contribution and the vote of each member public agency of the San Diego County Water Authority as of July 1, 1997, shall be as follows: Total Financial Contribution AGENCY July 1, 1997 VOTES Carlsbad Municipal Water District $129,787,887 25.96 City of Del Mar 13,712,188 2.74 City of Escondido 128,929,059 25.78 Fallbrook Public Utilities District 116,801,107 23.36 Helix Water District 356,506,629 71.30 National City 45,046,563 9.01 City of Oceanside 192,690,117 38.53 Olivenhain Municipal Water District 73,733,684 14.75 Otay Water District 146,294,367 29.26 Padre Dam Municipal Water District 142,768,644 28.55 Pendleton Military Res. 10,921,265 2.18 City of Poway 82,602,257 16.52 Rainbow Municipal Water District 194,841,500 38.96 Ramona Municipal Water District 65,220,318 13.04 Rincon Del Diablo Municipal Water District 69,024,271 13.80 City of San Diego 1,864,642,414 372.97 San Dieguito Water District 51,831,643 10.37 Santa Fe Irrigation District 64,860,359 12.97 South Bay Irrigation District 139,063,067 27.81 Vallecitos Water District 64,994,093 13.00 Valley Center Municipal Water District 243,877,685 48.77 Vista Irrigation District 118,493,448 23.70 Yuima Municipal Water District 15,146,776 3.03 TOTALS: $4,331,789,341 866.36 (i) The total financial contribution for the San Diego County Water Authority shall be determined by the board of directors as of the end of each fiscal year by adding the total financial contribution of each agency for the fiscal year to the totals provided for in subdivision (h) establishing the total financial contribution as of July 1, 1997. Allocation of voting power shall be reestablished by the board of directors to be effective on January 1 of each year based upon the calculation determined for the previous fiscal year. In addition to the definition in subdivision (f), "total financial contribution" shall also include all amounts paid in taxes, assessments, fees, and charges paid to or on behalf of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California with respect to property located within the boundaries of member public agencies including, but not limited to, standby charges, capacity charges, readiness to serve charges, connection and maintenance fees, annexation fees, and charges for water sold to member public agencies by the authority excluding the cost of treatment for the water. (j) Members of the first board of directors so constituted shall convene at the call of the clerk of the board of supervisors in the meeting room of the board of supervisors at the county seat of the county, and immediately upon convening, the board of directors shall elect from its membership a chairperson, a vice chairperson, and a secretary, who shall serve for a period of two years, or until their respective successors are elected and qualified. (k) A quorum necessary for the transaction of business at any meeting of the board of directors exists whenever there are present at the meeting a majority of the membership of the board of directors that includes at least one-half of the number of representatives of each public agency member having more than six representatives serving on the board of directors. Designees appointed pursuant to subdivision (g) shall not be considered "present" for the purposes of establishing a quorum. However, any regular or special meeting of the board of directors at which a quorum is not present may be continued from time to time until a quorum is present to transact the business of the board of directors.