BILL ANALYSIS
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 348|
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CONSENT
Bill No: AB 348
Author: Salas (D)
Amended: As introduced
Vote: 21
SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE : 5-0, 6/17/09
AYES: Wiggins, Cox, Aanestad, Kehoe, Wolk
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 78-0, 5/11/09 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : South Bay Irrigation District: directors
SOURCE : South Bay Irrigation District
Sweetwater Authority
DIGEST : This bill eliminates the landownership
requirement in order to serve as a director of the South
Bay Irrigation District.
ANALYSIS : Under the California Constitution, property
ownership can't be a condition to the right to vote or hold
office. The courts have declined to apply that prohibition
to special districts that don't provide general government
services. To be a member of an irrigation district's
board, a person must be both a voter and a landowner in
that district.
In 2000, the Legislature deleted the landowner requirement
for directors of irrigation districts that provide retail
electricity; those directors must be registered voters (SB
CONTINUED
AB 348
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1939, Alarc?n, Chapter 1041, Statutes of 2000). In 2006,
the Legislature deleted the landowner requirement for
directors of irrigation districts that prepare "urban water
management plans," in other words, those irrigation
districts which provide water for municipal purposes to
more than 3,000 customers or annually supply more than
3,000 acre-feet of water for municipal purposes (AB 159,
Salinas, Chapter 847, Statutes of 2006).
This bill declares that the landowner requirements for
irrigation districts' governing boards do not apply to the
South Bay Irrigation District. This bill also explains the
need for special legislation.
Comments
Irrigation districts used to deliver only irrigation water
to farms, orchards, and ranches. In those settings, it may
have been appropriate to require landownership as a
qualification for membership on an irrigation district's
board of directors. As California urbanized, some
irrigation districts became the retail purveyors of
domestic water, supplying people instead of acres. The
legislative trend is to delete the landowner requirement
for irrigation districts that supply significant amounts of
domestic water. Because of an unusual local twist, the
2006 Salinas bill didn't affect the South Bay Irrigation
District. AB 348 resolves that anomaly and eliminates the
landowner requirement.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No
Local: No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/18/09)
South Bay Irrigation District (co-source)
Sweetwater Authority (co-source)
ASSEMBLY FLOOR :
AYES: Adams, Ammiano, Anderson, Arambula, Beall, Bill
Berryhill, Tom Berryhill, Blakeslee, Block, Blumenfield,
Brownley, Buchanan, Caballero, Charles Calderon, Carter,
Chesbro, Conway, Cook, Coto, Davis, De La Torre, De Leon,
AB 348
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DeVore, Emmerson, Eng, Evans, Feuer, Fletcher, Fong,
Fuentes, Fuller, Furutani, Gaines, Galgiani, Garrick,
Gilmore, Hagman, Hall, Harkey, Hayashi, Hernandez, Hill,
Huber, Huffman, Jeffries, Jones, Knight, Krekorian, Lieu,
Logue, Bonnie Lowenthal, Ma, Mendoza, Miller, Monning,
Nava, Nestande, Niello, Nielsen, John A. Perez, V. Manuel
Perez, Portantino, Price, Ruskin, Salas, Saldana, Silva,
Skinner, Smyth, Solorio, Audra Strickland, Swanson,
Torlakson, Torres, Torrico, Tran, Villines, Bass
NO VOTE RECORDED: Duvall, Yamada
AGB:nl 6/18/09 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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