BILL ANALYSIS                                                                                                                                                                                                    Ó



                                                                  AB 2455
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          Date of Hearing:  April 23, 2014

                       ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT
                           K.H. "Katcho" Achadjian, Chair
                   AB 2455 (Williams) - As Amended:  April 10, 2014
           
          SUBJECT  :  The Santa Rita Hills Community Services District.

           SUMMARY  :  Allows, until January 1, 2035, the Santa Rita Hills  
          Community Services District (District) board of directors to  
          consist of three members, instead of five.  Specifically,  this  
          bill  :  

          1)Allows the District board of directors to consist of three  
            members, instead of five as required by current law, until  
            January 1, 2035.  

          2)Requires the board, prior to reducing the board of directors,  
            to adopt by a majority vote a resolution proposing to reduce  
            the number of directors to three members.  

          3)Requires the District to hold a public hearing regarding the  
            proposal to reduce the number of directors.  

          4)Requires notice of the public hearing to be given by placing a  
            display advertisement at least one-eighth page in a newspaper  
            of general circulation for three weeks, pursuant to existing  
            law, and by United State first-class mail to each landowner  
            voter in the district, as specified.  Requires the envelope or  
            cover of the mailing to include the name of the local agency  
            and the return address of the sender and the mailed notice to  
            be in at least 10-point type.  

          5)Requires the public hearing to be held at least 45 days after  
            mailing the notice pursuant to 4), above.  

          6)Requires the board to receive and consider at the hearing any  
            written or oral comments regarding the proposed reduction in  
            the number of directors.  

          7)Requires the board, after receiving and considering the  
            comments, by a majority vote, on the record, to do one of the  
            following:

             a)   Disapprove the proposal; or, 








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             b)   Adopt a resolution that orders the reduction in the  
               number of members of the board to three members.  

          8)Prohibits a reduction in the number of directors from  
            affecting the term of office of any director.  Requires a  
            director currently holding office as of the effective date of  
            the reduction in the number of member of the board to continue  
            to be the director until the office becomes vacant by means of  
            term expiration or otherwise.  

          9)Makes conforming changes within the Community Services  
            District (CSD) Law.  

          10)Finds and declares that a special statute is necessary  
            because of the unique circumstances applicable only to the  
            District.  
           EXISTING LAW  :

          1)Establishes the CSD Law.  

          2)Requires a CSD board of directors to consist of five members  
            and establishes four-year terms.  

          3)Authorizes the board of directors to be elected at large, by  
            division, or from divisions, if a majority of the voters  
            voting on the question are in favor at a general district or  
            special election.  

          4)Requires a CSD candidate for the board of directors to be a  
            voter of the district.  Requires a CSD candidate for the board  
            of directors that is elected by division to be a voter from  
            that division.  

          5)Requires all members of the board of directors to exercise  
            their independent judgment on behalf of the interest of the  
            entire district, including the residents, property owners, and  
            the public as a whole.  

           FISCAL EFFECT  :  None

           COMMENTS  :   

           1)Author's statement  .  According to the author, "This bill  
            addresses a district specific problem.  The District is facing  








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            a declining pool of candidates to serve on their board of  
            directors.  As such, this bill allows them to temporarily  
            reduce their board membership from five to three members.  
             
             "The District is a 'roads' district formed in 2009 by a vote  
            of property owners.  It was created to serve a small community  
            of Santa Rita Hills which consists of 39 parcels in Santa  
            Barbara County.  The power and responsibilities granted to the  
            District include the act to acquire, construct, improve and  
            maintain streets, roads, bridges and sidewalks.  Any road  
            improvements or infrastructure constructed by the District  
            must be related to the authorized services and any significant  
            costs for construction will be financed by benefit assessments  
            approved by landowners within the District.  

            "Because much of the district is comprised of parcels of land,  
            there are only between 10 - 12 actual voters residing in the  
            district, some of which are in the process of moving outside  
            the district.  Additionally, Santa Barbara County currently  
            has a restriction that prohibits new residences from being  
            built in the district until upgrades in road access is  
            provided, thereby limiting the potential for new registered  
            voters within the district.  

            "At present day, the board currently has one vacancy and  
            consists of only four members.  The vacancy was created by a  
            member who moved out of the area.  Additionally, one of the  
            four remaining board members continues to travel for military  
            support out of the county; therefore the board has a bare  
            quorum of three with which to conduct business.  Additional  
            vacancies are expected in the near future leaving the board in  
            a situation where they may lose quorum to conduct business.   
            As required by law, the board gave notice to the county about  
            their board vacancy last year.  To date, the county has been  
            unable to find a replacement for the resignation."

           2)Purpose of this bill  .  There are over 300 CSDs in California  
            that provide up to 32 different services, including water,  
            garbage collection, wastewater management, security, fire  
            protection, public recreation, street lighting, and mosquito  
            abatement services.  Current law requires a CSD board of  
            directors to consist of five directors elected by resident  
            voters for four-year terms.  

            This bill allows the District's board of directors to consist  








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            of three members, until January 1, 2035.  Under this bill the  
            board would have to comply with a number of hearing and  
            notification requirements in order to pass a resolution with a  
            majority vote to reduce their board membership from five to  
            three.  This bill would not impact the term of any board  
            member currently in office.  This bill is sponsored by the  
            District.  

           3)Local government governance structure and previous  
            legislation  .  In some cases, state law requires voter approval  
            before a local government can change their governance  
            structure.  For example, cities must get majority-voter  
            approval to change the number of council members.   
            Additionally, current law requires a majority-voter approval  
            in fire protection districts to increase or decrease the size  
            of their boards.  

            The Legislature has authorized special districts to increase  
            or decrease the size of boards 
            of directors by both amending the principal act, like for  
            water conservation districts (SB 235 Negrete McLeod), and by  
            making specific exceptions for individual special districts.   
            For example, SB 210 (Local Government), Chapter 176, Statutes  
            of 2001, authorized the Sawyers Bar County Water District  
            (Siskiyou County) to decrease the size of their board from  
            five to three members.  Sawyers Bar only had 14 registered  
            voters at the time SB 210 was making its way through the  
            process.  SB 210 authorized their board of directors to reduce  
            its membership if a majority of the district's voters signed a  
            petition requesting that reduction.  Alternatively, instead of  
            requiring direct action from the voters, SB 235 (Negrete  
            McLeod) Chapter 122, Statues of 2011, authorized water  
            conservation districts with a board consisting of seven  
            directors to reduce the number of directors to five by a  
            resolution adopted by two-thirds of the board.  The hearing  
            and notification requirements in SB 235 are substantially  
            similar to this bill.  However, this bill does not include the  
            opportunity for referendum.  

            SB 263 (Strickland), Chapter 11, Statutes of 2009, includes  
            the District as a CSD authorized to limit access to roads it  
            owns to the landowner and residents of that district.   
            According to the December 6, 2007, executive officer's report  
            for the Santa Barbara Local Agency Formation Commission  
            (LAFCO), the District serves a private community that is zoned  








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            as agricultural land.  The subdivision includes 35 parcels  
            that primarily support grazing land and farming.  There are  
            only three to four single family homes in the entire  
            subdivision, and many parcels are vacant.  There is no easy  
            way to access the individual parcels within the subdivision,  
            with some landowners saying they have been unable to use their  
            parcel because of a lack of road access.  

           4)Rewrite of CSD law  .  SB 135 (Kehoe), Chapter 249, Statutes of  
            2005, required all CSDs to have a five-member board of  
            directors, as part of the rewrite of the CSD Law.  The Senate  
            Local Government Committee produced a detailed report  
            (Community, Needs, Community Services: A Legislative History  
            of SB 135 (Kehoe) and the "Community Services District Law,"  
            March 2006) following the passage of SB 135 detailing the  
            19-member working group that reviewed the statute and  
            recommended revisions.  The report states, "The 1995 Law  
            allowed CSDs to have board of directors with either three or  
            five members.  The Working Group was aware some CSDs have  
            three member boards (Mountain Meadows CSD, Kern County).  The  
            Working Group's consensus was that all CSDs should have five  
            member boards of directors."  
                
            5)Policy considerations  .  The committee may wish to consider the  
            following issues:  

              a)   Voter determination  .  Should the reduction in size of  
               the board be determined by the voters?  

              b)   Other options  .  Given the current governance challenges  
               faced by the District, the Committee may wish to consider  
               if the district should be consolidated or dissolved instead  
               of just reducing board membership.  Current LAFCO law  
               specifies various ways that special districts and other  
               agencies can be reorganized and modified, including  
               consolidation, dissolution, including dissolution with  
               annexation, a merger, or establishment of a subsidiary  
               district.  

              c)   Temporary solution or systemic problem  .  The Committee  
               may wish to consider if this bill is attempting to provide  
               a temporary solution for a longstanding systemic issue that  
               may be better addressed by the Santa Barbara LAFCO.  

              d)   Purpose of the district  .  The Committee may wish to  








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               consider whether the purpose of the District can be  
               fulfilled in light of the broader challenges to road access  
               and infrastructure the District is facing.  

           6)Arguments in support  .  Supporters argue that this bill allows  
            the district to reduce the size of their board until the  
            current requirements can be more easily met in the future -  
            once the roads are improved and property owners are allowed to  
            build their residences.  

           7)Arguments in opposition  .  None on file.  

           REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION  :   

           Support 
           
          Santa Rita Hills Community Services District [SPONSOR]  
          County of Santa Barbara 

           Opposition 
           
          None on file.  
           
          Analysis Prepared by  :    Misa Yokoi-Shelton / L. GOV. / (916)  
          319-3958