BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2455
Page 1
ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2455 (Williams)
As Amended April 10, 2014
Majority vote
LOCAL GOVERNMENT 8-1
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|Ayes:|Achadjian, Levine, Alejo, | | |
| |Bradford, Gordon, Wagner, | | |
| |Mullin, Rendon | | |
| | | | |
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|Nays:|Waldron | | |
| | | | |
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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 District board of directors, prior to reducing
the board, 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.
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6)Requires the District board of directors to receive and
consider at the hearing any written or oral comments regarding
the proposed reduction in the number of directors.
7)Requires the District board of directors, after receiving and
considering the comments, by a majority vote, on the record,
to do one of the following:
a) Disapprove the proposal; or,
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.
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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
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.
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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
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), Chapter
122, Statutes of 2011), and by making specific exceptions for
individual special districts. For example, SB 210 (Local
Government Committee), 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
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requiring direct action from the voters, SB 235 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
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 Legislature 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
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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 Legislature
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 Legislature may wish to
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.
Analysis Prepared by : Misa Yokoi-Shelton / L. GOV. / (916)
319-3958
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