BILL NUMBER: AB 159 CHAPTERED 09/30/06 CHAPTER 847 FILED WITH SECRETARY OF STATE SEPTEMBER 30, 2006 APPROVED BY GOVERNOR SEPTEMBER 30, 2006 PASSED THE ASSEMBLY AUGUST 21, 2006 PASSED THE SENATE AUGUST 16, 2006 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 12, 2006 AMENDED IN SENATE JUNE 2, 2005 AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY MARCH 15, 2005 INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Salinas JANUARY 14, 2005 An act to amend Section 21100 of the Water Code, relating to water. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST AB 159, Salinas Irrigation districts: directors. Existing law, the Irrigation District Law, with certain exceptions, requires a director of the board of an irrigation district to be a voter and a landowner in the district and a resident of the division that he or she represents, at the time of his or her nomination or appointment and during his or her entire term. The district law requires a director elected at a formation election to be a resident and landowner in the proposed district at the time of his or her nomination and a resident of the division that he or she represents during his or her entire term. This bill, in the case of a formation election, would require a director to be a resident, landowner, and voter in the proposed district. The bill, under certain circumstances, would exempt a director from the landownership requirement, but a director appointed or elected before January 1, 2007, would continue to be subject to existing qualification requirements until the expiration of his or her term. THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS: SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following: (a) Irrigation districts that supply water for residential, business, or industrial use may no longer favor the special concerns of landowners over the general welfare of all residents. Therefore, the exclusion of nonlandowners from serving as directors of those districts may be inappropriate. (b) In those districts, irrigation water sales, property taxes, and assessments are not the sole source of funding and, therefore, the customers who pay the rates for residential, business, or industrial water service should also be eligible to serve on the boards of those districts. (c) These districts have a direct and substantial effect upon the nonlandowners residing within their boundaries. Under these circumstances, it would be inappropriate to deprive nonlandowners of the right to seek election as district directors. (d) The Legislature, however, recognizes that numerous irrigation districts operate throughout the state whose primary function is the irrigation and drainage of farmland, and whose principal constituents are landowners. Therefore, in those districts it may be demonstrated that their functions have a disproportionate effect and impose a distinctive burden upon landowners and consequently, only those landowners, as landowners, should be eligible to seek election as district directors. SEC. 2. Section 21100 of the Water Code is amended to read: 21100. (a) Each director, except as otherwise provided in this division, shall be a voter and a landowner in the district and a resident of the division that he or she represents at the time of his or her nomination or appointment and through his or her entire term, except in the case of the director elected at a formation election. A director elected at a formation election shall be a resident, landowner, and voter in the proposed district at the time of his or her nomination and a resident of the division that he or she represents during his or her entire term. (b) In any district having no more than 15 landowners who are voters in the district, a person need not be a voter but shall be qualified to be a director of the district if he or she is a landowner of the district at the time of his or her nomination or appointment and during his or her entire term. (c) In a district providing retail electricity for residents of the district, each director, except as otherwise provided in this division, shall be a voter of the district and a resident of the division that he or she represents at the time of his or her nomination or appointment and during his or her entire term, except in the case of a director elected at a formation election. A director elected at a formation election shall be a resident in the proposed district at the time of his or her nomination and a resident of the division that he or she represents during his or her entire term. (d) (1) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of Section 21100, except as provided in paragraph (2), for the purpose of meeting the requirements of that subdivision, a person need not be a landowner within the district to be qualified to be a director of the district if either of the following applies: (A) The person serves or seeks to serve on the board of directors of a district without divisions and the district is required to submit an urban water management plan pursuant to the Urban Water Management Planning Act (Part 2.6 (commencing with Section 10610) of Division 6). (B) (i) The person serves or seeks to serve on the board of directors of a district with divisions, the district is required to submit an urban water management plan pursuant to the Urban Water Management Planning Act (Part 2.6 (commencing with Section 10610) of Division 6), and the district, within the division that the person represents or seeks to represent, supplies water as a public water system subject to Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 116270) of Part 12 of Division 104 of the Health and Safety Code. (2) A director appointed or elected before January 1, 2007, shall be subject to the qualification requirements imposed by subdivision (a) until the expiration of his or her term.