Enrolled  July 09, 2019
Passed  IN  Senate  July 01, 2019
Passed  IN  Assembly  July 08, 2019
Amended  IN  Senate  June 17, 2019
Amended  IN  Senate  June 05, 2019
Amended  IN  Assembly  March 11, 2019

CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2019–2020 REGULAR SESSION

Assembly Bill
No. 591

Introduced by Assembly Member Cristina Garcia

February 14, 2019

An act to amend Sections 71265, 71266, and 71267 of the Water Code, relating to municipal water districts.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


AB 591, Cristina Garcia. Central Basin Municipal Water District: board of directors.
Existing law, the Municipal Water District Law of 1911, provides for the formation of municipal water districts and grants to those districts specified powers. Existing law permits a district to acquire, control, distribute, store, spread, sink, treat, purify, recycle, recapture, and salvage any water for the beneficial use of the district, its inhabitants, or the owners of rights to water in the district. Existing law requires the board of directors of the Central Basin Municipal Water District to be composed of 8 directors until the directors elected at the November 8, 2022, election take office, when the board would be composed of 7 directors, as prescribed. Existing law requires the 3 directors appointed by the water purveyors, as specified, to live or work within the district and requires the term of an appointed director to be terminated if the appointed director no longer is employed by or a representative of the appointing entity.
This bill would define representative for these purposes to be a consultant to or contractor of an entity, or a governing board member of a mutual water company. The bill would require a consultant to or contractor of an entity, in order to be eligible for nomination as a director, to have commenced services to that entity at least one year prior to nomination. The bill would state that an individual nominated for appointment to the board of directors is required to be employed by or a representative of the entity that puts forth their nomination. The bill would state that a director appointed by the water purveyors takes office at noon on the first Friday in December following the director’s appointment.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NO   Local Program: NO  

The people of the State of California do enact as follows:


SECTION 1.

 Section 71265 of the Water Code is amended to read:

71265.
 For the purposes of this chapter:
(a) “District” means the Central Basin Municipal Water District.
(b) “Large water purveyor” means a public water system that is one of the top five purveyors of water as measured by the total purchase of potable and recycled water from the district for the three prior fiscal years.
(c) “Public water system” has the same meaning as in Section 116275 of the Health and Safety Code.
(d) “Relevant technical expertise” means employment or consulting for a total period of at least five years, prior to the date of first appointment, in one or more positions materially responsible for performing services relating to the management, operations, engineering, construction, financing, contracting, regulation, or resource management of a public water system.
(e) “Representative” means a consultant to an entity, a contractor of an entity, or, if nominated by a mutual water company, a member of the governing board of the mutual water company.
(f) “Small water purveyor” means a public water system with less than 5,000 connections.

SEC. 2.

 Section 71266 of the Water Code is amended to read:

71266.
 (a) Except as provided in subdivision (c) and notwithstanding any other provision of this division, the board of directors of the district shall be composed of seven directors as follows:
(1) Four directors, one director elected for each division established pursuant to subdivision (d) by the voters of the division. Each director shall be a resident of the division from which the director is elected. An election pursuant to this paragraph shall be in accordance with the Uniform District Election Law (Part 4 (commencing with Section 10500) of Division 10 of the Elections Code).
(2) Three directors appointed by the water purveyors of the district in accordance with Section 71267. An appointed director shall take office at noon on the first Friday in December following that director’s appointment.
(b) The district shall be subject to Section 84308 of the Government Code.
(c) Until the directors elected at the November 8, 2022, election take office, the board of directors shall be composed of eight directors as follows:
(1) Five directors in accordance with Section 71250.
(2) Three directors appointed by the water purveyors of the district pursuant to Section 71267.
(d) The board of directors shall divide the district into four divisions in a manner as to equalize, as nearly as practicable, the population in the respective divisions pursuant to Section 71540.

SEC. 3.

 Section 71267 of the Water Code is amended to read:

71267.
 (a) The general manager of the district shall notify each water purveyor of the district and provide a 60-day period during which the district will accept nominations for appointment of individuals to the board of directors.
(b) (1) An individual nominated for appointment to the board of directors shall demonstrate eligibility and relevant technical expertise and shall be employed by or a representative of the entity that puts forth their nomination.
(2) To be eligible for nomination, a consultant to or contractor of an entity shall have commenced services to that entity at least one year prior to nomination.
(c) (1) The three directors appointed by the water purveyors shall be selected by the water purveyors of the district every four years as follows:
(A) One director shall be selected by all large water purveyors from the nominees of large water purveyors. Each large water purveyor shall have one vote.
(B) One director shall be selected by all cities that are water purveyors of the district from the nominees of cities. Each city shall have one vote.
(C) One director shall be selected by all of the water purveyors of the district from any nominee. The vote of each purveyor shall be weighted to reflect the number of service connections of that water purveyor within the district. If the selection of a director under this subparagraph would result in a violation of paragraph (2), the first eligible candidate receiving the next highest number of votes shall be selected.
(2) The appointment of directors pursuant to paragraph (1) shall not result in any of the following:
(A) The appointment of three directors that are all employed by or representatives of entities that are all large water purveyors.
(B) The appointment of three directors that are all employed by or representatives of entities that are all cities.
(C) The appointment of three directors that are all employed by or representatives of entities that are all small water purveyors.
(3) Each nominee for director who receives the highest number of votes cast for each office described in paragraph (1) is appointed as a director to the board of directors and shall take office in accordance with Section 71512. The general manager shall collect the votes and report the results to the water purveyors. Votes for an appointed director are public records.
(d) Each appointed director shall live or work within the district.
(e) In order to ensure continuity of knowledge, the directors appointed at the first purveyor selection shall classify themselves by lot so that two of them shall hold office until the selection of their successors at the first succeeding purveyor selection and one of them shall hold office until the selection of their successor at the second succeeding purveyor selection.
(f) (1) The term of a director appointed pursuant to subparagraph accordance with the selection process described in subdivisions (a) to (c), inclusive.
(i) (1) An appointed director shall be eligible for all of the following:
(A) Reimbursement for travel and conference expenses pursuant to the Central Basin Municipal Water District Administrative Code.
(B) Compensation for up to 10 meetings per month at the per meeting rate provided by the Central Basin Municipal Water District Administrative Code.
(C) Health insurance benefits, if those benefits are not provided by the director’s employer.
(2) An appointed director shall not be eligible to receive communication or car allowances. For purposes of this paragraph, “car allowances” does not include travel expenses incurred as described in paragraph (1).
(3) An appointed director may waive the reimbursement and compensation described in paragraph (1) and may be required to reimburse their employer for any compensation received.