BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1362
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB
1362 (Gordon)
As Amended January 19, 2016
Majority vote
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|Committee |Votes|Ayes |Noes |
| | | | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
|----------------+-----+----------------------+---------------------|
|Local |9-0 |Maienschein, | |
|Government | |Gonzalez, Alejo, | |
| | |Chiu, Cooley, Gordon, | |
| | |Holden, Linder, | |
| | |Waldron | |
| | | | |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY: Authorizes a city selection committee to make
appointments to the board of trustees of specified mosquito
abatement and vector control districts, subject to specified
requirements. Specifically, this bill:
1)Authorizes a city council that may appoint a trustee, pursuant
to existing law, to a newly formed or existing mosquito
abatement and vector control district that is in a single
county and contains incorporated and unincorporated territory,
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to adopt a resolution requesting city appointments be made by
a city selection committee.
2)Provides a city selection committee may only be used to make
appointments if a majority of city councils located within the
mosquito abatement and vector control district adopt
respective resolutions.
3)Authorizes a city selection committee to decrease the total
number of city appointments made by the city selection
committee, if a majority of city councils within the district
make this request in an adopted resolution.
4)Prohibits the total number of appointments made by a city
selection committee from exceeding the number of incorporated
cities, wholly or in part, in the district.
5)Prohibits the appointments made by the city selection
committee from affecting the appointments made by a county
board of supervisors, pursuant to existing law for these
specified districts.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the Mosquito Abatement and Vector Control District
Law, which requires a legislative body of at least five
members known as the board of trustees to govern every
mosquito abatement and vector control district.
2)Requires a board of trustees to be appointed, within 30 days
after the effective date of formation, in a district that is
located entirely within a single county and contains both
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incorporated and unincorporated territory, as follows: a) the
board of supervisors may appoint one person to the board; and,
b) the city council of each city that is located in whole or
in part within the district may appoint one person to the
board.
3)Authorizes a board of trustees to adopt a resolution
requesting that the board of supervisors of any county that
contains territory within the district to increase or decrease
the number of members on the board of trustees who represent
the unincorporated territory of that county, and requires the
board of supervisors order the increase or decrease.
FISCAL EFFECT: None
COMMENTS:
1)Mosquito Abatement and Vector Control Districts. There are 65
mosquito abatement and vector control districts in California.
Mosquito abatement and vector control districts stand as
guardians against epidemics, public health emergencies, and
economic disasters. These districts have a long history of
applying science to counter public health threats, and
continue to do so as Californians face threats like the West
Nile virus.
In 2002, the Senate Local Government Committee appointed a
"Working Group on Revising the Mosquito Abatement District
Law" to update the law which had not undergone a comprehensive
review since 1939. The working group agreed to maintain the
method of appointing trustee boards, but changed the method
for increasing or decreasing the size of boards. Due to the
rewrite in 2002, current law authorizes a board of trustees to
change a board's size by directing a county board of
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supervisors to increase or decrease the number of trustees
representing the unincorporated area of the county. The
working group rejected draft language that would have allowed
the underlying city councils and county board of supervisors
to trigger changes in the size of the board of trustees.
2)Bill Summary. Existing law establishes an appointment process
for a mosquito abatement and vector control district, which
must be done within 30 days of the effective date of
formation. Each district must have at least five trustees;
however the appointment process established by current law
determines city and county appointments based on the territory
contained in the district. If a district includes a part of a
city or county, that respective governing body is authorized
to make an appointment. For example in a mosquito and vector
control district located in a single county which contains
unincorporated and incorporated territory the board of
supervisors is authorized to make one appointment and each
individual city is authorized to make one appointment. This
leads to a large variation in the size of a mosquito abatement
and vector control district board of trustees.
This bill authorizes a city selection committee to make
appointments in a newly formed or existing mosquito abatement
and vector control district that is located in a single county
and contains incorporated and unincorporated territory if a
majority of city councils within the district adopt a
resolution. A majority of city councils must also adopt a
resolution to permit the city selection committee to decrease
the number of appointments. This bill prohibits the
appointments made by a city selection committee from exceeding
the number of incorporated cities within the district.
3)Author's Statement. According to the author, "AB 1362 would
grant a mosquito abatement district which has countywide
boundaries the option to utilize its existing city selection
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committee to appoint Trustees to the district, rather than
each city council doing so independently. This reduces
pressure on each individual city to appoint a representative,
and increases collaboration between neighboring cities by
authorizing the city selection committee to make shared
decisions on local governance. This process adds an
additional level of oversight and accountability to the
appointment process, while retaining the city councils'
authority to appoint members. Other benefits include reducing
the costs associated with meeting expenses and stipends for
each member's service, streamlining board communication,
reducing duplicative work, and providing more transparency on
the Board's representation and decision-making."
4)Policy Considerations. The Legislature may wish to consider
the following:
a) Equal Representation. The Legislature may wish to
ensure that there will be adequate representation among all
cities, especially if the number of city appointments is
less than the number of cities within the district. The
city selection committee process for some special districts
requires appointments to alternate between cities or
guarantees seats among geographic groupings to ensure
diverse and fair representation.
b) Statewide Problem. This bill affects districts that are
located in a single county and contain incorporated and
unincorporated territory. The Legislature may wish to
consider if there is evidence of a statewide problem.
c) Role of the Board of Trustees. Current law grants
flexibility to a board of trustees to change the size of a
board by ordering an increase or decrease to the number of
trustees representing the unincorporated area of a county.
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The author may wish to consider the role trustee boards
should have in determining the size of their board given
this provision in current law.
5)Prior Legislation. AB 991 (Devore) of 2005 would have reduced
the size of the Orange County Vector Control District's board
of trustees, and would have required the county board of
supervisors to appoint one trustee and the city selection
committee to appoint 10 members, as specified. AB 991 failed
passage in the Local Government Committee.
6)Arguments in Support. According to Supervisor Don Horsley,
"In San Mateo County, the existing countywide mosquito
abatement district is comprised of 21 members - one
representative from the Board of Supervisors and one
representative from each of the 20 cities in the county. This
is a very large board that can be difficult to manage and
challenging for each jurisdiction to keep consistently filled
with trustees. For instance, our board currently has four
vacant seats. In addition, the recent history of the San
Mateo County Mosquito District proved that a larger board does
not necessarily offer greater oversight. Rather than
completely overhauling the governance structure of this
special district, creating the option of having a more focused
representative board could produce a more effective management
tool. In San Mateo County, I believe the appointment process
outlined in AB 1362 would be a good fit for the board of
trustees of the mosquito and vector control district."
7)Arguments in Opposition. According to the Mosquito and Vector
Control Association of California, "The nexus of this proposal
is reported to come from San Mateo County's concerns with the
size of its district's board of trustees. However, as a
statewide association comprised of over 60 member agencies,
including many large urban districts with diverse populations,
our members have not raised concerns as to the size of their
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board of trustees. In fact, 2015 marks the centennial
anniversary of the creation of mosquito control districts in
California, and we believe that the addition of a city
selection process for trustee appointments is not necessary.
As we continue to work with you on your concerns related by
the San Mateo County Board of Supervisors, we believe that the
issues in that specific county and district should be
addressed on their own, as opposed to opening a governance
structure that would be statewide."
Analysis Prepared by:
Misa Lennox / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958 FN:
0002554