BILL ANALYSIS �
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|SENATE RULES COMMITTEE | AB 2455|
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2455
Author: Williams (D)
Amended: 6/17/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE GOVERNANCE & FINANCE COMMITTEE : 7-0, 6/11/14
AYES: Wolk, Knight, Beall, DeSaulnier, Hernandez, Liu, Walters
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-3, 5/1/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : The Santa Rita Hills Community Services District
SOURCE : Santa Rita Hills Community Services District
DIGEST : This bill allows, until January 1, 2035, the Santa
Rita Hills Community Services District's (SRHCSD) board of
directors to consist of three members instead of five, as
specified.
ANALYSIS : Existing law allows residents of an unincorporated
area to initiate the formation of a community services district
(CSD), which can provide a wide variety of services such as
water, garbage collection, wastewater collection, fire
protection, street lighting, and mosquito abatement services.
The residents of the CSD elect a board of local residents to
oversee the management and operations of the district. A
candidate for the board of directors must be a voter of the
district. Before 2005, existing law allowed CSDs to have boards
of directors with either three or five members. In a rewrite of
CSD law, SB 135 (Kehoe, Chapter 249, Statutes of 2005) required
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AB 2455
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all CSDs to have five-member boards of directors.
This bill allows SRHCSD to reduce the size of its board of
directors from five members to three members.
This bill requires that before reducing the board membership,
the board of directors after receiving a petition signed by a
majority of voters requesting reduction, must:
Adopt, by a recorded majority vote of the board of directors,
a resolution proposing to reduce the number of directors to
three members;
Hold a public hearing regarding the proposal to reduce the
number of directors;
Give notice of the public hearing by placing a display
advertisement in a newspaper of general circulation for three
weeks and mailing notice to each voter in the district;
Hold a public hearing at least 45 days after mailing the
notice;
At the hearing, receive and consider any written or oral
comments regarding the proposed reduction in the number of
directors. After receiving and considering the comments, the
board shall disapprove the proposal or adopt a resolution
ordering the reduction.
This bill prohibits a reduction in the number of directors from
affecting the term of office of any director and requires a
director holding office as of the effective date of the
reduction to continue to be director until the office becomes
vacant by means of term expiration or otherwise.
This bill allows the district board of directors to consist of
three members until January 1, 2035.
This bill allows the board of directors to increase the board to
five members before 2025 following the same procedures used to
reduce the number of board directors. If the board adopts a
resolution to increase the number of directors, it cannot
subsequently reduce the number of directors.
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Background
The Legislature has authorized some special districts to
increase or decrease the size of boards of directors. For
example, SB 235 (Negrete McLeod, Chapter 122, Statutes of 2011),
authorized water conservation districts with boards consisting
of seven directors to reduce the number of directors to five by
a resolution adopted by two-thirds of the board. SB 210 (Local
Government Committee, Chapter 176, Statutes of 2001) authorized
the Sawyers Bar County Water District to decrease the size of
its board from five to three members if a majority of the
district's voters signed a petition requesting that reduction.
The Sawyers Bar County Water District served a remote rural
community in the County of Siskiyou with approximately 14
registered voters, which made it difficult to find individuals
willing and able to serve as members of the district's board of
directors.
The SRHCSD, formed in 2009, serves the small community of Santa
Rita Hills in Santa Barbara County. SRHCSD's powers and
responsibilities include the acquisition, construction,
improvement and maintenance of streets, roads, bridges, and
sidewalks. There are only 10 registered voters residing within
the district's boundaries. Due to challenges in filling a board
vacancy, achieving a quorum during board meetings, and in
anticipation of future vacancies, SRHCSD wants to reduce its
board membership from five members to three members.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local:
No
SUPPORT : (Verified 6/17/14)
Santa Rita Hills Community Services District (source)
County of Santa Barbara
Santa Barbara Local Agency Formation Commission
ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author's office, the
Santa Rita Hills Community Services District is a "roads"
district formed in 2009 by a registered voter election, which
included property owners registered to vote in the district. It
was created to serve a small community of Santa Rita Hills which
consists of 39 parcels in Santa Barbara County.
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The power and responsibilities granted to the SRHCSD include the
act to acquire, construct, improve and maintain streets, roads,
bridges and sidewalks. Any road improvements or infrastructure
constructed by the District must relate to the authorized
services and any significant costs for construction will be
financed by benefit assessments approved by landowners within
the District.
AB 2455 recognizes this dilemma and allows the SRHCSD to
temporarily 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.
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 70-3, 5/1/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Allen, Ammiano, Atkins, Bigelow, Bloom,
Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta, Bradford, Buchanan, Ian Calderon,
Campos, Chau, Ch�vez, Chesbro, Conway, Cooley, Dababneh,
Dahle, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong, Fox, Frazier, Beth
Gaines, Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hagman,
Roger Hern�ndez, Holden, Jones, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Linder,
Logue, Lowenthal, Maienschein, Medina, Melendez, Mullin,
Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Nestande, Olsen, Pan, Perea, V. Manuel
P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, Rodriguez,
Skinner, Stone, Ting, Wagner, Waldron, Weber, Wieckowski,
Wilk, Williams, Yamada, John A. P�rez
NOES: Donnelly, Grove, Patterson
NO VOTE RECORDED: Brown, Gorell, Hall, Harkey, Mansoor, Salas,
Vacancy
AB:e 6/17/14 Senate Floor Analyses
SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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