BILL NUMBER: AB 1156	INTRODUCED
	BILL TEXT


INTRODUCED BY   Assembly Member V. Manuel Pérez

                        FEBRUARY 22, 2013

   An act to amend Sections 1 and 6 of the Palo Verde Irrigation Act
(Chapter 452 of the Statutes of 1923), relating to water.


	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   AB 1156, as introduced, V. Manuel Pérez. Palo Verde Irrigation
District Act.
   Existing law establishes the Palo Verde Irrigation District Act
with the purpose of, among other things, providing a unified and
comprehensive method of supplying the district, as defined, with
water for irrigation and domestic uses and protecting lands within
the district from flood waters of the Colorado River. Existing law
requires any person, firm, or corporation which owns, or has any
interest in, real property or improvements on real property, or both,
whose interest or ownership is assessed on the last preceding
equalized assessment roll of the district be entitled to vote at
certain elections related to the district. The act entitles a
property owner to one vote for every $100 of assessed valuation on
the equalized assessment roll, as specified.
   This bill would entitle a person, firm, or corporation that owns
land, or any interest in land, whose interest is assessed on the
preceding equalized assessment roll of the district to vote at the
specified elections. Ths bill would entitle each property owner to
one vote for every $100 of assessed value of land, not including
improvements, on the equalized assessment roll.
   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 1 of the Palo Verde Irrigation District Act is
amended to read:
  Section 1.   (a)  The State of California and the people
thereof are hereby declared to have a primary and supreme interest in
securing to the inhabitants and  property  owners
of the  low irrigable   low  
-irrigable  lands within what is known as the "Palo Verde
 valley,"   Valley,   "  in
Riverside and Imperial  counties   Counties
 , the greatest possible use, conservation and protection of the
waters of the Colorado  river   River  to
the extent that the same may be lawfully diverted to their lands, to
the end that their water system,  their  land,
structures  ,  and other properties may be protected from
overflow of the flood waters  of said   from the
 river, their swamp lands drained, and thereby the greatest
productivity of the largest possible area may be accomplished and
safely carried on within reasonable limits of economy. 
   (b) The Legislature hereby finds and declares the following: 

   (1) That as a special district, the purpose of the Palo Verde
Irrigation District is to secure to the district's landowners and
inhabitants the greatest possible use, conservation, and protection
of the waters of the Colorado River, to protect their water system,
land, structures, and other properties from overflow of the flood
waters from the river, and to reclaim swamp lands and thereby promote
the greatest productivity of the largest possible area of land
within reasonable limits of safety and the economy.  
   (2) That the owners of land in the Palo Verde Irrigation District
enjoy distinct benefits flowing as a result of the district's
declared purpose, and absorb specific costs related to this purpose,
in the form of assessments against land and water charges, and that
these landowners are therefore substantially affected by, and
directly interested in, the district's governance.  
   Investigation 
    (c)     Investigation  having shown
conditions in the Palo Verde  valley   Valley
 to be peculiar to that valley, it is hereby declared that a
general law cannot be applicable thereto, and the enactment of this
special law is therefore necessary for the proper distribution and
use of the waters available for the valley, the protection of the
valley against inundation, the  recla-mation  
reclamation  of the swamp lands, and financing the development
of the valley by the means herein provided.
  SEC. 2.  Section 6 of the Palo Verde Irrigation District Act is
amended to read:
  Sec. 6.  Any person,  firm   firm,  or
corporation  owning any real property and/or the improvements
thereon,     that owns land  or any
interest in  real property and/or the improvements thereon
(but not including personal property) which   land whose
 interest or ownership  , not including improvements on the
land,  is assessed on the last preceding equalized assessment
roll of the district (and only the owners of  property
  land  so assessed) shall be entitled to vote at
any election, special or general, for the election of trustees, or
for any other purpose pertaining to the affairs of  said
  the  district. Each property owner  so
 qualified to vote shall be entitled to cast one vote for
 each   every  one hundred dollars 
of assessed valuation   ($100)  or fraction
thereof greater than fifty dollars  , as the same appears to
have been   ($50) of  assessed  value of land,
not including improvements on the land,  on the equalized
assessment roll of the district last preceding the holding of the
election. In determining the total number of votes any voter is
entitled to cast, the total assessed value of all parcels  of the
land  owned by the voter shall be divided by  one
hundred   100  , and the quotient shall determine
the number of votes.