BILL NUMBER: AB 2554	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  AUGUST 5, 2010
	AMENDED IN ASSEMBLY  APRIL 8, 2010

INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member Brownley

                        FEBRUARY 19, 2010

   An act to amend Sections 2 and 16 of the Los Angeles County Flood
Control Act (Chapter 755 of the Statutes of 1915), relating to the
Los Angeles County Flood Control District.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 2554, as amended, Brownley. Los Angeles County Flood Control
District: fees and charges.
   Existing law, the Los Angeles County Flood Control Act,
establishes the Los Angeles County Flood Control District and
authorizes the district to control and conserve the flood, storm, and
other wastewater of the district. The act declares the district to
be a body corporate and politic, and to have various powers,
including the power to cause taxes to be levied and collected for the
purpose of paying any obligation of the district.
   This bill would authorize the district to impose a fee or charge
 in the unincorporated areas of the county  , in
compliance with Article XIII D of the California Constitution, to pay
the costs and expenses of  the district, and to carry out
the objects or purposes of the act   carrying out
projects and providing services to improve water quality and reduce
stormwater and urban runoff pollution in the district in accordance
with specified criteria  . The bill would require that any fees
imposed be levied and collected together with taxes for county
purposes, and the revenues paid into the county treasury to the
credit of the district.  The bill would require the county board
of supervisors to expend the funds to pay for those costs and
expenses, to be allocated as prescribed. 
   The act authorizes the board of the district, subject to certain
limitations, to do all acts or things necessary or useful for the
promotion of the work or the control of the flood and storm waters of
the district, to conserve those waters for beneficial and useful
purposes, and to protect from damage from storm or flood waters, the
harbors, waterways, public highways, and property of the district.
One limitation upon the authority of the board of the district is
that it is not authorized to raise money for the district by any
method or system other than by issuing bonds, or the levying of a tax
upon the assessed value of all the real property of the district,
except from the sale and lease of its property.
   This bill would instead provide that the board of the district is
not authorized to raise money for the district by any method or
system other than by issuing bonds, the levying of a tax, or the
imposition of a fee or charge in compliance with Article XIII D of
the California Constitution.
   Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no.
State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

  SECTION 1.  Section 2 of the Los Angeles County Flood Control Act
(Chapter 755 of the Statutes of 1915), as amended by Section 33 of
Chapter 1276 of the Statutes of 1975, is amended to read:
  Sec. 2.  The objects and purposes of this act are to provide for
the control and conservation of the flood, storm and other waste
waters of said district, and to conserve these waters for beneficial
and useful purposes by spreading, storing, retaining or causing to
percolate into the soil within the district, or to save or conserve
in any manner, all or any of these waters, and to protect from damage
from flood or storm waters, the harbors, waterways, public highways
and property in the district.
   The Los Angeles County Flood Control District is hereby declared
to be a body corporate and politic, and has all the following powers:

   1. To have perpetual succession.
   2. To sue and be sued in the name of the district in all actions
and proceedings in all courts and tribunals of competent
jurisdiction.
   3. To adopt a seal and alter it at pleasure.
   4. To take by grant, purchase, gift, devise or lease, hold, use,
enjoy, and to lease or dispose of real or personal property of every
kind within or without the district necessary to the full exercise of
its power.
   5. To acquire or contract to acquire lands, rights-of-way,
easements, privileges and property of every kind, and construct,
maintain and operate any and all works or improvements within or
without the district necessary or proper to carry out any of the
objects or purposes of this act, and to complete, extend, add to,
repair or otherwise improve any works or improvements acquired by it
as herein authorized. Construction or improvement of existing
facilities may involve landscaping and other aesthetic treatment in
order that the facility will be compatible with existing or planned
development in the area of improvement.
   6. To exercise the right of eminent domain, either within or
without the district, to take any property necessary to carry out any
of the objects or purposes of this act.
   7. To incur indebtedness, and to issue bonds in the manner herein
provided.
   7a. To borrow money from the United States of America, any agency
or department thereof, or from any nonprofit corporation, organized
under the laws of this state, to which the Reconstruction Finance
Corporation, a corporation organized and existing under and by virtue
of an act of Congress, entitled "Reconstruction Finance Corporation
Act," or other agency, or department, of the United States
government, has authorized, or shall hereafter authorize, a loan to
enable nonprofit corporation to lend money to the Los Angeles County
Flood Control District, for any flood control work authorized under
this act, and to repay the same, in annual installments, over a
period of not to exceed twenty (20) years, with interest at a rate of
not to exceed four and one-fourth per centum (41/4%) per annum,
payable semiannually, and, without the necessity of an election when
authorized by resolution of the board of supervisors, as evidences of
that indebtedness, the district is hereby authorized to execute and
deliver a note, or a series of notes, or bonds, or other evidences of
indebtedness, signed by the chairperson of the board of supervisors
of the district, which notes, bonds, or other evidences of
indebtedness, shall be negotiable instruments if so declared in the
resolution of the board of supervisors providing for their issuance,
and notes, bonds, or other evidences of indebtedness, may have
interest coupons attached to evidence interest payments, signed by
the facsimile signature of the chairperson of the board. All
applications for these loans shall specify the particular flood
control work or projects for which the funds will be expended, and
when received, the money shall be deposited in a special fund, and
shall be expended for those purposes only which are described and
referred to in the applications. If a surplus remains after the
completion of the work, the surplus shall be applied to the payment
of the note, notes, bonds, or other evidences of indebtedness,
executed as aforesaid, for the loan including interest coupons. The
board of supervisors shall annually levy a tax upon the taxable real
property of the district, clearly sufficient to pay the interest and
installments of principal, as the same shall become due and payable,
under any loan made pursuant to the authority of this section, and to
create and maintain a reserve fund to assure the prompt payment
thereof, as may be provided by resolution of the board of
supervisors. However, the amount of taxes levied in any year,
pursuant to this subsection, shall, pro tanto, reduce the authority
of the board of supervisors, during any year, to levy taxes under
Section 14 of this act, but this proviso shall not be a limitation
upon the power and duty to levy and collect taxes under this
subsection. Notwithstanding any other provisions of law, interest
earned on funds representing the proceeds of bonds of the district
shall be deposited and retained in the reserve fund of the district
to meet the principal and interest falling due on these bonds.
   Notwithstanding anything in this subsection to the contrary, the
total amount the district may borrow under the authority of any or
all of the provisions of this subsection is limited to and shall not
exceed in the aggregate the sum of four million five hundred thousand
dollars ($4,500,000).
   7b. The power granted in the next preceding subsection is hereby
extended to authorize the issuance and sale of bonds or other
evidences of indebtedness of the district to the County of Los
Angeles and the purchase thereof by the county in accordance with "An
act authorizing the investment and reinvestment and disposition of
any surplus moneys in the treasury of any county, city and county,
incorporated city or town or municipal utility district or flood
control district," approved April 23, 1913, as amended; all subject
to the provisions and limitations of the next preceding subsection
relative to the disposition and use of funds, interest rate, period
of repayment, tax rate and mode of issuance. The total amount of
bonds or other evidence of indebtedness, in the aggregate, which the
district may issue and sell under the authority of subsection 7a and
of this subsection is limited to and shall not exceed four million
five hundred thousand dollars ($4,500,000).
   8. To cause taxes to be levied and collected for the purpose of
paying any obligation of the district in the manner provided in this
section. 
   8a. To impose a fee or charge, in the unincorporated areas of the
county, in compliance with Article XIII D of the California
Constitution, to pay the costs and expenses of the district, and to
carry out the objects or purposes of this act. Any fee that is
imposed 
    8a.     To impose a fee or charge, in
compliance with the applicable provisions of Article XIII  
  D of the California Constitution, to pay the costs and
expenses of carrying out projects and providing services to improve
water quality and reduce stormwater and urban runoff pollution in the
district in accordance with criteria established by the ordinance
adopted pursuant to subsection 8c. Any fee that is imposed pursuant
to this subsection  shall be levied and collected together with,
and not separately from, taxes for county purposes, and the revenues
derived from the fees shall be paid into the county treasury to the
credit of the district, and the board of supervisors  may
  shall  expend these funds to pay for costs
 described in   and expenses in accordance with
 this subsection. 
   8b. The district shall allocate the revenues derived from any fee
or charge imposed pursuant to subsection 8a as follows:  
   (A) Ten percent shall be allocated to the district for
implementation and administration of water quality programs, as
determined by the district, including activities such as planning,
water quality monitoring, and any other related activities, and for
payment of the costs incurred in connection with the levy and
collection of the fee and the distribution of the funds generated by
imposition of the fee, as established by the ordinance adopted
pursuant to subsection 8c.  
   (B) Forty percent shall be allocated to cities within the
boundaries of the district and to the County of Los Angeles, in the
same proportion as the amount of fees collected within each
jurisdiction and within the unincorporated territories, to be
expended by those cities within the cities' respective jurisdictions
and by the County of Los Angeles within the unincorporated
territories that are within the boundaries of the district, for water
quality improvement programs, as established by the ordinance
adopted pursuant to subsection 8c.  
   (C) Fifty percent shall be allocated to nine watershed authority
groups that shall be authorized by the ordinance adopted pursuant to
subsection 8c, in the same proportion as the amount of fees collected
within each watershed, to implement collaborative water quality
improvement plans or programs in the watersheds as established by the
ordinance adopted pursuant to subsection 8c. Those nine watershed
authority groups shall be established for the Ballona Creek,
Dominguez Channel, Upper Los Angeles River, Lower Los Angeles River,
Rio Hondo, Upper San Gabriel River, Lower San Gabriel River, Santa
Clara River, and Santa Monica Bay watersheds. The watershed authority
groups shall be established pursuant to Article 1 (commencing with
Section 6500) of Chapter 5 of Division 7 of Title 1 of the Government
Code. The implementation of a collaborative water quality
improvement plan or program by a watershed authority group shall
require the consent of any watershed authority group member whose
jurisdiction comprises more than 40 percent of the total land area in
a watershed.  
   8c. The governing board of the district shall adopt an ordinance
to implement the authority granted pursuant to subsections 8a and 8b.

   9. To make contracts, and to employ for temporary services only,
expert appraisers, consultants and technical advisers, and to do all
acts necessary for the full exercise of all powers vested in the
district, or any of the officers thereof, by this act.
   10. To grant or otherwise convey to counties, cities and counties,
cities or towns easements for street and highway purposes, over,
along, upon, in, through, across or under any real property owned by
the Los Angeles County Flood Control District.
   11. To remove, carry away and dispose of any rubbish, trash,
debris or other inconvenient matter that may be dislodged,
transported, conveyed or carried by means of, through, in, or along
the works and structures operated or maintained hereunder and
deposited upon the property of the district or elsewhere.
   12. To pay premiums on bonds of contractors required under any
contract if the amount payable to the contractor exceeds five million
dollars ($5,000,000); provided, that the specifications in these
cases shall specifically so provide and state that the bidder shall
not include in his or her bids the cost of furnishing the required
bonds.
   13. To lease, sell or dispose of any property (or any interest
therein) whenever in the judgment of the board of supervisorsof the
property, or any interest therein or part thereof, is no longer
required for the purposes of the district, or may be leased for any
purpose without interfering with the use of the same for the purposes
of the district, and to pay any compensation received therefor into
the general fund of the district and use the same for the purposes of
this act. However, nothing herein shall authorize the board of
supervisors or other governing body of the district or any officer
thereof to sell, lease or otherwise dispose of any water, water
right, reservoir space or storage capacity or any interest or space
therein except to public agencies for recreational purposes when the
use is not inconsistent with the use thereof by the district for
flood control and water conservation purposes; or except as provided
by Section 17 of this act. However, the district may grant and convey
to the United States of America, or to any federal agency authorized
to accept and pay for the land or interests in land, all lands and
interests in land, now owned or hereafter acquired, lying within any
channel, dam or reservoir site, improved or constructed, in whole or
in part, with federal funds, upon payment to the district of sums
equivalent to actual expenditures made by it in acquiring the lands
and interests in land so conveyed and deemed reasonable by the
Secretary of War and the Chief of Engineers.
   14. To provide, by agreement with other public agencies or private
persons or entities or otherwise, for the recreational use of the
lands, facilities, and works of the district which shall not
interfere, or be inconsistent, with the primary use and purpose of
the lands, facilities, and works by the district.
   15. In addition to its other powers, the district shall have the
power to preserve, enhance, and add recreational features to its
properties and upon a finding by the board of supervisors that the
acquisition is necessary for those purposes, to acquire, preserve,
enhance, and add recreational features to lands or interests in lands
contiguous to its properties, for the protection, preservation, and
use of the scenic beauty and natural environment for the properties
or the lands and to collect admission or use fees for the
recreational features where deemed appropriate.
   The district by or through its board of supervisors, or other
board or officers at any time succeeding to the duties or functions
of its board of supervisors, is hereby authorized and empowered to
warrant and defend the title to all land and interests therein so
conveyed to the United States of America or to any agency and its
respective assigns; to covenant and agree to indemnify and keep
indemnified and to hold and save harmless and exonerated the United
States of America or any agency, to which lands or any interest
therein are so conveyed by the district, from and against all
demands, claims, liabilities, liens, actions, suits, charges, costs,
loss, damages, expenses and attorneys' fees of whatsoever kind or
nature, resulting from, arising out of or occasioned by any defect or
defects whatsoever in the title to any land or interest in land so
conveyed by the district; to reimburse and save harmless and
exonerated the United States of America or any agency for any and all
amounts, paid, and expenses incurred, in the compromise or
settlement of any demands, claims, liabilities, liens, actions,
suits, charges, costs, loss, damages, expenses and attorneys' fees of
whatsoever kind or nature, resulting from, arising out of or
occasioned by any claim to or defect or defects whatsoever in the
title to any land or interests in land so conveyed by the district;
to pay all just compensation, costs and expenses, which may be
incurred in any condemnation proceeding deemed necessary by the
United States of America or that agency, in order to perfect title to
any land or interests in land, including without limitation all
attorneys' fees, court costs and fees, costs of abstracts and other
evidences of title, and all other costs, expenses or damages incurred
or suffered by the United States of America or that agency; and
consent is hereby given to the bringing of suit or other legal
proceedings against the district by the United States of America or
that agency, as the case may be, in the proper district court of the
United States, upon any cause of action arising out of any
conveyance, contract or covenant made or entered into by the district
pursuant to the authority granted in this act, or to enforce any
claims, damages, loss or expenses arising out of or resulting from
any defect whatsoever in the title to the land or any interest
therein or any claims of others in or to the land or interest
therein.
  SEC. 2.  Section 16 of the Los Angeles County Flood Control Act
(Chapter 755 of the Statutes of 1915), as amended by Section 6 of
Chapter 1276 of the Statutes of 1975, is amended to read:
  Sec. 16.  (a) The board of supervisors of the district shall have
power to make and enforce all needful rules and regulations for the
administration and government of the district, and to perform all
other acts necessary or proper to accomplish the purposes of this
act.
   (b) The board of supervisors shall have power to do all work and
to construct and acquire all improvements necessary or useful for
carrying out any of the purposes of this act; and the board of
supervisors shall have power to acquire either within or without the
boundaries of the district, by purchase, donation or by other lawful
means in the name of the district, from private persons,
corporations, reclamation districts, swampland districts, levee
districts, protection districts, drainage districts, irrigation
districts, or other public corporations or agencies or districts, all
lands, rights-of-way, easements, property or materials necessary or
useful for carrying out any of the purposes of this act; to make
contracts to indemnify or compensate any owner of land or other
property for any injury or damage necessarily caused by the exercise
of the powers conferred by this act, or arising out of the use,
taking or damage of any property, rights-of-way or easements, for any
of these purposes; to compensate any reclamation district,
protection district, drainage district, irrigation district or other
district, public corporation or agency or district, for any
right-of-way, easement or property taken over or acquired by the Los
Angeles County Flood Control District as a part of its work of flood
control or conservation or protection provided for in this act, and
any reclamation district, protection district, drainage district,
irrigation district or other district or public corporation or agency
is hereby given power and authority to distribute compensation in
any manner that may be now or hereafter allowed by law; to maintain
actions to restrain the doing of any act or thing that may be
injurious to carrying out any of the purposes of this act by the
district, or that may interfere with the successful execution of that
work, or for damages for injury thereto; to do any and all things
necessary or incident to the powers hereby granted, or to carry out
any of the objects and purposes of this act; to require, by
appropriate legal proceedings, the owner or owners of any bridge,
trestle, wire line, viaduct, embankment or other structure which
shall be intersected, traversed or crossed by any channel, ditch, bed
of any stream, waterway, conduit or canal, so to construct or alter
the same as to offer a minimum of obstruction to the free flow of
water through or along any channel, ditch, bed of any stream,
waterway, conduit or canal, and whenever necessary in the case of
existing works or structures, to require the removal or alteration
thereof for that purpose. However, nothing in this act contained
shall be deemed to authorize the district in exercising any of its
powers to take, damage or destroy any property or to require the
removal, relocation, alteration or destruction of any bridge,
railroad, wire line, pipeline, facility or other structure unless
just compensation therefor be first made, in the manner and to the
extent required by the Constitution of the United States and the
Constitution of California.
   The board of supervisors of the district is hereby vested with
full power to do all other acts or things necessary or useful for the
promotion of the work of the control of the floodwater and
stormwater of the district, and to conserve those waters for
beneficial and useful purposes, and to protect from damage from
floodwater and stormwater, the harbors, waterways, public highways,
and property in the district. However, this act does not authorize
the district, or any person or persons, to divert the waters of any
river, creek, stream, irrigation system, canal or ditch, from its
channel, to the detriment of any person or persons having any
interest in such river, creek, stream, irrigation system, canal or
ditch, or the waters thereof or therein, unless previous compensation
be first ascertained and paid therefor, under the laws of this state
authorizing the taking of private property for public uses. This act
does not affect the plenary power of any incorporated city, city and
county, or town, or municipal or county water district, to provide
for a water supply of that public corporation, or as affecting the
absolute control of any properties of that public corporations
necessary for the water supply, and this act does not vest any power
of control over the properties in the Los Angeles County Flood
Control District, or in any officer thereof, or in any person
referred to in this act. This act does not authorize the board of
supervisors to raise money for the district by any method or system
other than that by the issuing of bonds, the levying of a tax, or the
imposition of a fee or charge in compliance with Article XIII D of
the California Constitution, in the manner in this act provided,
except from the sale and lease of its property as provided in this
act.