BILL ANALYSIS Ó
-----------------------------------------------------------------
|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 1816|
|Office of Senate Floor Analyses | |
|(916) 651-1520 Fax: (916) | |
|327-4478 | |
-----------------------------------------------------------------
THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 1816
Author: Dahle (R), et al.
Amended: 5/24/16 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FIN. COMMITTEE: 6-0, 6/15/16
AYES: Hertzberg, Nguyen, Beall, Hernandez, Lara, Moorlach
NO VOTE RECORDED: Pavley
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 5/5/16 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT: Tulelake Irrigation District
SOURCE: Tulelake Irrigation District
DIGEST: This bill allows certain non-residents to serve on the
Tulelake Irrigation District Board of Directors.
ANALYSIS:
Existing law:
1)Establishes the powers, governance structure, and election
requirements for irrigation districts.
2)Requires that each voter of an irrigation district be a
resident registered to vote in the district.
AB 1816
Page 2
3)Requires that each director of an irrigation district be a
voter, a landowner in the district, and a resident of the
division of the district that he or she represents at the time
of nomination or appointment and through the entire term,
unless elected at a formation hearing.
4)Creates, under the Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act, a local agency
formation commission (LAFCO) in each county to control the
boundaries of cities, county service areas, and most special
districts.
This bill:
1)Authorizes the Tulelake Irrigation District (TID) board of
directors to adopt a resolution that authorizes a person to be
a director if the person:
a) Is a registered voter in California,
b) Lives within the "residency area," defined as the land
within the district's boundaries or within one mile of any
boundary, and
c) Owns property within the division or is a property
owner's legal representative.
2)Defines legal representative to mean the person authorized to
act on behalf of a corporation that is allowed to own property
in California.
3)Requires a legal representative to present to the district a
copy of his or her authority to represent the corporation
prior to declaring candidacy or being appointed to the board.
AB 1816
Page 3
4)Requires that, upon written request by at least 25% of the
registered voters in the district, all directors must meet the
requirements in current law for directors of irrigation
districts.
Background
California's 93 irrigation districts function under a collection
of statutes known as the Irrigation District Law that describe
their governance structure and authority. In general, these
districts are governed by a five-member board of directors, with
each member representing a division within the district. In
most cases, registered voters are eligible to vote in district
elections, but directors (also referred to as board members)
must be voters, landowners, and residents in the division of the
district they represent.
The Legislature has provided specific exemptions from the
residency requirement for directors by enacting special
legislation for four districts: Pixley Irrigation District,
Hills Valley Irrigation District, Stratford Irrigation District,
and Byron-Bethany Irrigation District. The Legislature
authorized all of these districts to have non-resident directors
in 1994.
The TID spans 96,000 acres of land in both Modoc and Siskiyou
counties, near the Oregon border. The District was formed in
1952 to deliver water to TID lands from U.S. Bureau of
Reclamation projects. In 1957, TID took over operation and
maintenance of existing water infrastructure that landowners had
already constructed. TID only provides water services for
agricultural purposes and is financed by assessments on
landowners, based on the number of acres owned. TID's governing
body is a five-member board of directors, each representing a
division of the district. Currently, TID directors must meet
all the criteria required by irrigation district statutes, such
as being a resident and landowner in the division that he or she
AB 1816
Page 4
represents.
TID currently encompasses about 400 landowners. However, 158 of
them reside outside of the district's boundaries, including 16
landowners that reside within one mile of the district's
boundaries, along a surrounding ridge. Because they live
outside of the district, these landowners are ineligible to
serve on the board. The TID board of directors wants to expand
the pool of candidates that are eligible to sit on the board of
directors.
Comments
1)Purpose of the bill. Currently, directors of the TID must be
residents, landowners, and registered voters in the division
that they represent. These stringent requirements, coupled
with the unique topography of TID and the surrounding area,
have drastically reduced the number of candidates that are
eligible to serve on the board. Specifically, more than one
third of the landowners in the district reside outside of the
boundaries of the district, making them ineligible. In one
division, there are currently only two potential candidates
for a division seat. AB 1816 allows landowners who reside
within one mile of TID's boundaries to sit on the board of
directors, expanding the pool of candidates while maintaining
a close connection between the directors and the agricultural
activities in the district. These simple changes are
consistent with previous efforts to allow more candidates to
run for irrigation board seats and promote democratic ideals
by ensuring robust electoral competition.
2)Close, but no cigar. With rare exceptions, elected officials
must reside within the boundaries of the agency that they
represent. Of the 93 irrigation districts in California, only
four allow for directors to reside outside the district that
they represent. LAFCOs were formed in each county to act as an
arm of the Legislature to determine boundaries while
considering local conditions. While the current TID
boundaries may limit the pool of candidates, Modoc LAFCO has
the ability to expand its boundaries to encompass the
AB 1816
Page 5
residency area described in AB 1816, or to include any other
relevant territory based on local conditions. For example,
the LAFCO might determine that there are more logical changes
to TID's boundaries than simply expanding the district one
mile in all directions. Yet TID has not applied to Modoc
LAFCO to increase its jurisdiction. Moreover, all of the
other districts that allow directors to reside outside of the
district were given that authority prior to the comprehensive
changes to local government boundary-setting that the
Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Act enacted. AB 1816 chips away at the
role of LAFCOs, potentially setting an undesired precedent.
Is this bill necessary given the option to pursue a boundary
change through LAFCO?
FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal
Com.:NoLocal: No
SUPPORT: (Verified6/17/16)
Tulelake Irrigation District (source)
Association of California Water Agencies
Ben DuVal Farms, Inc.
City of Tulelake
Frey Farms
Gold Dust Potato Processors, Inc.
Jeff and Leslie Boyd Farms
JW Farming, LLC
Klamath Water Users Association
McKoen & Son
Modoc County Board of Supervisors
Modoc County Farm Bureau
Potato Karma
Seus Family Farms, Inc.
Siskiyou County Board of Supervisors
Staunton Farms
Tally Ho Farms
WJB, LLC
One individual farmer
AB 1816
Page 6
OPPOSITION: (Verified6/17/16)
None received
ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 77-0, 5/5/16
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Travis Allen, Arambula, Atkins, Baker,
Bigelow, Bloom, Bonilla, Bonta, Brough, Brown, Burke,
Calderon, Campos, Chang, Chau, Chávez, Chiu, Chu, Cooley,
Cooper, Dababneh, Dahle, Daly, Dodd, Frazier, Gallagher,
Cristina Garcia, Eduardo Garcia, Gatto, Gipson, Gomez,
Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Grove, Hadley, Harper, Roger
Hernández, Holden, Irwin, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Kim, Lackey,
Levine, Linder, Lopez, Low, Maienschein, Mathis, Mayes,
McCarty, Medina, Melendez, Mullin, Nazarian, Obernolte,
O'Donnell, Olsen, Patterson, Quirk, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Salas, Steinorth, Mark Stone, Thurmond, Ting, Wagner, Waldron,
Weber, Wilk, Williams, Wood, Rendon
NO VOTE RECORDED: Eggman, Beth Gaines, Santiago
Prepared by:Anton Favorini-Csorba / GOV. & F. / (916) 651-4119
6/17/16 15:03:50
**** END ****