BILL ANALYSIS Ó ------------------------------------------------------------ |SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | SB 235| |Office of Senate Floor Analyses | | |1020 N Street, Suite 524 | | |(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | | |327-4478 | | ------------------------------------------------------------ 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. CONTINUED SB 235 Page 2 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 SB 235 Page 3 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 **** END ****