BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó




                     SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE
                            Senator Lois Wolk, Chair
          

          BILL NO:  SB 235                      HEARING:  3/16/11
          AUTHOR:  Negrete McLeod               FISCAL:  No
          VERSION: 3/14/11                      TAX LEVY: No
          CONSULTANT:  Detwiler                 

                 WATER CONSERVATION DISTRICTS' GOVERNING BOARDS
          

          Allows water conservation districts to reduce the size of 
          their governing boards.


                           Background and Existing Law  

          Most of the 3,300 special districts rely on about 50 
          principal acts which spell out their powers, finances, and 
          governance.  The Water Conservation District Law of 1931 is 
          the principal act for the 11 water conservation districts 
          (WCDs), which have elected boards of directors with three, 
          five, or seven members.  One WCD has a three-member board, 
          four districts have five-member boards, and six have 
          seven-member boards.

          Special legislation allows the two WCDs in Ventura County 
          to change the size of their boards of directors and 
          reapportion their electoral divisions.  Proceedings start 
          with either a board resolution or a voter petition.  The 
          WCD's board must send the proposal to the county board of 
          supervisors.  After giving public notice, the county 
          supervisors must hold a public hearing and then call an 
          election on the proposal.  State law requires 
          majority-voter approval to change the size of the WCD's 
          board (AB 2934, Henson, 1965).

          The San Bernardino Valley WCD covers 78 square miles and 
          about 98,000 registered voters, including the San 
          Bernardino County communities of Highland, Loma Linda, 
          Redlands, and San Bernardino.  The District has a 
          seven-member board of directors, elected by divisions.  
          Three directors' terms end in December 2011; four in 
          December 2013.  To help reduce its costs, the District 
          wants to reduce the size of its board of directors from 
          seven to five.  However, there are no statutory procedures 
          for changing the size of the governing boards of the WCDs 




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          that are not in Ventura County.


                                   Proposed Law  

          Senate Bill 235 allows water conservation districts with 
          seven-member boards of directors to decrease the number of 
          directors to five members.

          Proceedings start when a district's governing board adopts, 
          by majority vote of the board's membership, a resolution 
          which includes a map and description of the five proposed 
          electoral divisions.  The district's secretary must call a 
          public hearing that can't be less than 30 days or more than 
          60 days after the board adopts its resolution.  The 
          district's secretary must publish a public notice in a 
          general circulation newspaper once a week for three weeks.  
          At its public hearing, the district's board must consider 
          any comments and then either disapprove the proposal or 
          order the decrease in the board's size.  That decision is 
          subject to referendum by the district's voters.

          Decreasing the number of directors and changing their 
          electoral divisions doesn't affect the existing directors' 
          terms of office and the existing directors continue to 
          serve until their terms end.  Decreasing the size of a 
          district's board can't occur within 180 days of a 
          director's election.

          SB 235 doesn't apply to the water conservation districts in 
          Ventura County.


                               State Revenue Impact
           
          No estimate.


                                     Comments  

          1.   Purpose of the bill  .  To cut costs, the San Bernardino 
          Valley Water Conservation District wants to reduce the size 
          of its governing board, but there's no statutory procedure. 
           Only the two WCDs in Ventura County can shrink their 
          boards, but they need voter approval.  If SB 235 let all 
          WCDs to use the existing procedures for the WCDs in Ventura 





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          County, the elections might cost more than the resulting 
          savings.  Instead, the bill provides for public notices, a 
          public hearing, and the opportunity of a referendum.  SB 
          235 balances government efficiency with public 
          transparency.

          2.   Says who  ?  State laws try to balance the costs of local 
          government with a commitment to accountability.  In some 
          cases, state law requires voter approval before local 
          governments can change their governance structures.  
          Cities, for example, must get majority-voter approval 
          before changing the number of council members.  Similarly, 
          fire protection districts need majority-voter approval if 
          they want to increase or decrease the size of their boards. 
           SB 235 allows some water conservation districts to reduce 
          the size of their boards without voter review, although a 
          referendum is possible.  The Committee may wish to consider 
          whether a governing board's size is the kind of decision 
          that a local government should share with its voters.

          3.   Who knows  ?  If legislators let WCDs shrink their boards 
          without elections, the Committee may wish to consider 
          whether the public notice and the public hearing required 
          by SB 235 adequately substitutes for voter review.  The 
          bill requires a WCD to publish three weekly notices before 
          the public hearing.  While that's more notice than for most 
          hearings, it is enough?  The Committee may wish to consider 
          whether a WCD should mail public hearing notices to all of 
          its registered voters.  The Committee may wish to consider 
          requiring a WCD to submit its decision to voter review if 
          the protests at the hearing reach 10% or 25% of the 
          registered voters.

          4.   Fewer directors or fewer districts ?  Both the San 
          Bernardino Valley WCD and the San Bernardino Valley 
          Municipal Water District (MWD) overlay the Bunker Hill 
          basin, although the MWD is nearly five times as large as 
          the WCD.  In 2005, the Local Agency Formation Commission 
          (LAFCO) for San Bernardino County completed a two-year 
          municipal service review of the Bunker Hill basin and 
          determined that the MWD and the WCD should consolidate.  In 
          2006, the MWD applied to the LAFCO for approval to 
          consolidate the two districts.  After lawsuits and 
          opposition by the WCD, the LAFCO denied the consolidation 
          in 2010.  Now the WCD wants to cut costs by cutting the 
          size of its governing board.  The Committee may wish to 





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          consider whether a better alternative is to cut the number 
          of special districts in San Bernardino County.


                         Support and Opposition  (3/10/11)

           Support  :  San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation 
          District.

           Opposition  :  Unknown.