BILL NUMBER: SB 1383	AMENDED
	BILL TEXT

	AMENDED IN SENATE  JUNE 20, 2012

INTRODUCED BY   Senator Hernandez

                        FEBRUARY 24, 2012

   An act to  amend Section 37421   add and
repeal Section 37420.5  of the Government Code, relating to
local government  water utilities   , and declaring the
urgency thereof, to take effect immediately  .



	LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


   SB 1383, as amended, Hernandez. Local government: sales of 
specific water utility  property.
   Existing law provides a procedure  that is generally
applicable  for a city to sell its real property.  Other
existing law establishes specific procedures for sale of public
utility property owned by a municipal corporation, with special
provisions that are applicable to the sale of property of a water
utility. 
   This bill would  make a technical, nonsubstantive change
to these provisions   , notwithstanding any other law,
until January 1, 2014, authorize the City of El Monte   in
the County of Los Angeles, which owns and operates a public utility
for furnishing water service, to sell or transfer all or any part of
the utility pursuant to the procedures that are generally applicable
to a sale of real property by a city, if certain requirements are met
 . 
   This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as
an urgency statute. 
   Vote:  majority   2/3  . Appropriation:
no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no.


THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:

   SECTION 1.    Section 37420.5 is added to the 
 Government Code  , to read:  
   37420.5.  (a) Notwithstanding any other law, the City of El Monte
in the County of Los Angeles, which owns and operates a public
utility for furnishing water service, may sell or transfer all or any
part of the public utility pursuant to this article or Article 1
(commencing with Section 37350), subject to the following
requirements:
   (1) The legislative body of the City of El Monte shall not sell
the water utility property for less than its fair market value,
determined in accordance with the Public Water System Investment and
Consolidation Act of 1997 (Chapter 2.5 (commencing with Section 2718)
of Part 2 of Division 1 of the Public Utilities Code).
   (2) The entity acquiring the City of El Monte's water utility
property shall be a water corporation, as defined in Section 241 of
the Public Utilities Code, that, at the time of the sale or transfer,
is authorized by the Public Utilities Commission to provide water
service to at least 50 percent of the area within the corporate
limits of the city, and maintains its corporate headquarters within
the corporate limits of the city.
   (3) Upon acquiring the City of El Monte's water system, the
acquiring water corporation assumes the obligation to provide water
service to all persons in the area formerly served through the water
system being sold by the city on the same terms and conditions that
the Public Utilities Commission has found to be just and reasonable
for the acquiring water corporation's other customers in the city and
that do not unlawfully discriminate against the previous customers
of the city's water system.
   (b) This section shall remain in effect only until January 1,
2014, and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted
statute, that becomes operative on or before January 1, 2014, deletes
or extends the date on which it is repealed. 
   SEC. 2.    The Legislature finds and declares that a
special law is necessary and that a general law cannot be made
applicable within the meaning of Section 16 of Article IV of the
California Constitution because of unique circumstances applicable to
the city of El Monte in the County of Los Angeles, which owns a
water utility that the city's legislative body finds is no longer in
the public interest to own and operate and desires to sell, but is
unable to do so in a timely manner because statutes authorizing the
sale of city property appear to conflict with one another, preventing
the city from selling the water utility without an election. In
order to enable the city in these special circumstances to timely
complete a sale of property in the public interest, a statute of
general applicability cannot be enacted within the meaning of
subdivision (b) of Section 16 of Article IV of the California
Constitution, and therefore this special statute is necessary. 
   SEC. 3.    This act is an urgency statute necessary
for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety
within the meaning of Article IV of the Constitution and shall go
into immediate effect. The facts constituting the necessity are:
 
   In order to provide the City of El Monte in the County of Los
Angeles with the clear authority to sell a city-owned water utility
while financial conditions are favorable to the city and the sale is
in the public interest, it is necessary for this act to take effect
immediately.  
  SECTION 1.    Section 37421 of the Government Code
is amended to read:
   37421.  When the legislative body of a city finds that the public
interest and convenience require the sale of any public building and
site dedicated to a public use, it may adopt a resolution of its
finding and intention to sell the property.