BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1156
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Date of Hearing: May 8, 2013
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
K.H. "Katcho" Achadjian, Chair
AB 1156 (V. Manuel Perez) - As Introduced: February 22, 2013
SUBJECT : Palo Verde Irrigation District Act.
SUMMARY : Excludes improvements on land from the total assessed
value of land used to determine the weighted vote of a landowner
in the Palo Verde Irrigation District. Specifically, this bill :
1)Excludes the assessed value of improvements on the land from
the total assessed value
of land used to calculate a landowner's weighted vote in the
Palo Verde Irrigation District (PVID).
2)Makes findings and declarations.
3)Makes other non-substantive and technical changes.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes the Palo Verde Irrigation District Act.
a) Authorizes any person, firm, or corporation owning any
real property and improvements, or any interest in real
property and any improvements to vote in any election
pertaining to the affairs of the district.
b) Provides one vote for each $100 of assessed valuation or
fraction greater than $50 for each qualified property
owner. Determines the total number of votes any voter is
entitled to cast by dividing the total assessed value of
all parcels owned by the voter by 100.
c) Requires the assessed valuation to be the equalized
assessment roll of the district preceding the election.
FISCAL EFFECT : None
COMMENTS :
1)PVID was established in 1923 and is comprised of mostly
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farmland occupying about 189 square miles of territory in
Riverside and Imperial Counties. PVID contains approximately
131,298 acres and manages and delivers water to land within
its jurisdiction. PVID is governed by a seven-member board of
trustees elected at large among owners of property within
district. Current law limits voting rights in PVID to
landowners and establishes a weighted vote system based on the
assessed value of real property, including improvements made
by landowners. The weighted vote system provides one vote for
each $100 dollars
of assessed property, including improvements and divides the
total assessed value by 100 to determine the number of votes
for each landowner.
2)This bill makes changes to the weighted vote system in PVID
and deletes the assessment
of improvements to property from the total assessed value used
to calculate each landowners weighted vote. Under this bill
the assessed value of land alone would be used by the
calculation in current law to determine each landowner's
weighted vote. This bill is sponsored by PVID.
3)According to the sponsor, "Given the size and the abundance of
sunshine in the geographic location of the PVID, it has been
identified as a preferred location for solar development. The
PVID was identified in the 2011 programmatic environmental
impact statement of the United States Department of Energy and
the Interior identified the region as an area available for
solar development."
According to the Association of California Water Agencies in
support, "These new solar projects typically utilize a few
thousand acres of land but the solar equipment can be worth
billions of dollars. Because of the relatively high value of
the improvements compared to the size of the land being used,
the landowner of a solar project built under these terms would
have a disproportionate share of the district's votes. This
bill would ensure that the votes of irrigated landowners would
not be diluted by any potential large solar projects in the
district's service area."
According to the author and sponsor none of these projects
have been developed in PVID yet.
4)The California Constitution provides that the right to vote or
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serve in elected office may not be conditioned on a
landownership qualification. However, in 1973, the U.S.
Supreme Court ruled in Salyer Land Co. v. Tulare Water
District, that the California statute requiring a
landownership qualification did not violate the Equal
Protection Clause of the U.S. Constitution. The court ruled
there was no violation because those districts don't exercise
normal governmental authority and their activities
disproportionally affect landowners.
California's 93 irrigation districts function under a range of
statutes that are a hybrid of registered voter and
landowner-voter type districts. In general, registered voters
are eligible to vote in district elections, but board members
must be landowners of the district. Historically, the
Legislature has recognized landowners' special concerns for
irrigation districts' operations by creating unique separate
statutes that preserve the landowner requirement to vote in
districts that primarily deliver agricultural water. Some of
these districts have landownership, but not residency
requirements. Some districts, including PVID, Camp Far West
Montague, and Cordua Irrigation Districts use weighted votes
in their elections, based on the relative value of land under
ownership.
5)The Committee may wish to note the intent of this bill as
expressed by the author and supporters is to "ensure voting
power is equally distributed among all landowners and does not
favor those with preferred sites for renewable energy
development". This bill does not just eliminate the
assessment of improvements for solar energy projects, it also
eliminates the assessment of any improvement made by any
landowner. The Committee may wish to consider whether this
bill will harm individual landowners who make investments in
their land, pay increased assessments due to the improvements,
but would not have that investment go toward the calculation
of their weighted vote.
If the Committee finds the expressed concern brought forward
by the author and sponsor as necessitating a change in
statute, the Committee may wish to ask the author to consider
a different approach to accomplish the stated goal of ensuring
that voting power is equally distributed among landowners.
6)This bill does not include any public notification
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requirements to the landowners in PVID about changes to their
weighted vote. As a result of this bill, the voting rights of
landowners will change without any notification or opportunity
for landowners to publically weigh in at the local level.
7)Committee amendment : To address the lack of public
notification to all PVID landowners whose weighted vote may be
changed by this bill, the Committee may wish to require PVID
to hold a public hearing and provide notice of the public
hearing pursuant to Section 6063 of the Government Code and by
first-class mailing to each voter.
8)SB 614 (Wolk), pending in the Assembly, would delete the
landowner qualification in statute for most irrigation
district board members, but does not address the districts
that have unique statutes. SB 614 builds upon several
legislative attempts that have sought to limit landowner
qualifications for board directors. In 2000, the Legislature
deleted the landowner qualification for board members of
irrigation districts that provide electricity (SB 1939,
Alarcón). In 2006, the Legislature removed the landowner
requirement for irrigation districts that provide 3,000 or
more acre-feet of water to residential customers or that have
more than 3,000 customers (AB 159, Salinas).
9)Support arguments : Supporters argue that this bill will
ensure that voting power is equally distributed amongst all
land owners, and will not only favor those who have preferred
sites for solar energy development.
Opposition arguments : This bill may have unintended
consequences for current landowners in PVID that make
improvements to their land. Additionally, the bill does not
require public notification to voters about the changes to
their weighted votes once the bill were to take effect.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION :
Support
Palo Verde Irrigation District [SPONSOR]
Association of California Water Agencies
Opposition
AB 1156
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None on file
Analysis Prepared by : Misa Yokoi-Shelton / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958