BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                      



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          |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE            |                   SB 235|
          |Office of Senate Floor Analyses   |                         |
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                                 THIRD READING


          Bill No:  SB 235
          Author:   Negrete McLeod (D)
          Amended:  3/14/11
          Vote:     21

           
           SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE  :  7-0, 3/16/11
          AYES:  Wolk, Huff, DeSaulnier, Fuller, Hancock, Hernandez, 
            Liu
          NO VOTE RECORDED:  Kehoe, La Malfa


           SUBJECT  :    Water conservation districts:  reduction in 
          number of 
                      directors

           SOURCE  :     San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation 
          District


           DIGEST  :    This bill allows water conservation districts 
          with seven-members boards of directors to decrease the 
          number of directors to five members.

           ANALYSIS  :    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, 
          fiver, or seven members.

          This bill allows WCDs with seven-members boards of 
          directors to decrease the number of directors to five 
          members.

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          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 WCD'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 WCD's 
          secretary must publish a public notice in a general 
          circulation newspaper once a week for three weeks.  At its 
          public hearing, the WCD'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 WCD'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 
          WCD's board cannot occur within 180 days of a director's 
          election.

          This bill does not apply to the WCDs in Ventura County.

           Comments
           
          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 ÝHenson], 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 







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          for changing the size of the governing boards of the WCDs 
          that are not in Ventura County.

           FISCAL EFFECT  :    Appropriation:  No   Fiscal Com.:  No   
          Local:  No

           SUPPORT  :   (Verified  3/16/11)

          San Bernardino Valley Water Conservation District (source)



          AGB:do  3/16/11   Senate Floor Analyses 

                         SUPPORT/OPPOSITION:  SEE ABOVE

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