Bill Text: IA SF2208 | 2017-2018 | 87th General Assembly | Introduced

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Bill Title: A bill for an act providing for the administration of drainage or levee districts, including by providing for appointments, elections, and terms of office, and including transitional provisions.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Independent 1-0)

Status: (Introduced - Dead) 2018-02-08 - Introduced, referred to Local Government. S.J. 271. [SF2208 Detail]

Download: Iowa-2017-SF2208-Introduced.html

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Senate File 2208 - Introduced




                                 SENATE FILE       
                                 BY  D. JOHNSON

                                      A BILL FOR

  1 An Act providing for the administration of drainage or
  2    levee districts, including by providing for appointments,
  3    elections, and terms of office, and including transitional
  4    provisions.
  5 BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF IOWA:
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PAG LIN



  1  1    Section 1.  Section 468.231, Code 2018, is amended to read
  1  2 as follows:
  1  3    468.231  Administrator areas.
  1  4    1.  When establishing a board of county drainage
  1  5 administrators, the board of supervisors shall divide the
  1  6 county, along township lines, into three five drainage
  1  7 administrator areas of approximately equal territory. The
  1  8 board of county drainage administrators shall consist of
  1  9 one resident freeholder appointed by the county board of
  1 10 supervisors from each administrator area, and at least two
  1 11  three of the administrators shall be agricultural landowners.
  1 12 The members first appointed shall hold office for terms of one,
  1 13 two, and three, four, and five years respectively, as indicated
  1 14 and fixed by the county board of supervisors. Thereafter,
  1 15 succeeding members shall be appointed for a term of three
  1 16 years, except that vacancies occurring otherwise than by
  1 17 expiration of a term shall be filled by appointment for the
  1 18 unexpired term.
  1 19    2.  Any member of the board of county drainage administrators
  1 20 who shall cease to have any of the qualifications prescribed by
  1 21 this section shall thereupon be disqualified as a member of the
  1 22 board and the office shall be deemed vacant. Members of the
  1 23 board of county drainage administrators may be removed by the
  1 24 county board of supervisors for cause, but every such removal
  1 25 shall be by written order which shall be filed with the county
  1 26 auditor.
  1 27    Sec. 2.  Section 468.502, Code 2018, is amended to read as
  1 28 follows:
  1 29    468.502  Election.
  1 30    The board, at the next regular, adjourned, or special
  1 31 session shall canvass the petition and if signed by the
  1 32 requisite number of landowners, it shall order an election to
  1 33 be held at some convenient place in the district not less than
  1 34 forty nor more than sixty days from the date of such order,
  1 35 for the election of three five trustees of such district.
  2  1 It shall appoint from the freeholders of the district who
  2  2 reside in the county or counties, three judges and two
  2  3 clerks of election. It shall not be mandatory for the county
  2  4 commissioner of elections to conduct elections held pursuant to
  2  5 this subchapter, but they shall be conducted in accordance with
  2  6 the provisions of chapter 49 where not in conflict with this
  2  7 subchapter.
  2  8    Sec. 3.  Section 468.504, Code 2018, is amended to read as
  2  9 follows:
  2 10    468.504  Election districts.
  2 11    When a petition has been filed for the election of trustees
  2 12 to manage a district containing twenty thousand acres or
  2 13 more, the board, or, if the district extends into more than
  2 14 one county, the boards of the counties by joint action,
  2 15 shall, before the election, divide the district into three
  2 16  five election districts for the purpose of securing a proper
  2 17 distribution of trustees in the district, and the division
  2 18 shall be so made that each election district will have
  2 19 substantially equal voting power and acreage, as nearly as may
  2 20 be. After the division is made there shall be elected one
  2 21 trustee for each of the election districts, but at the election
  2 22 all the qualified voters for the entire district shall be
  2 23 entitled to vote for each trustee. The division here provided
  2 24 for shall be for the purposes only of a proper distribution of
  2 25 trustees in the district and shall not otherwise affect the
  2 26 district or its management and control.
  2 27    Sec. 4.  Section 468.505, Code 2018, is amended to read as
  2 28 follows:
  2 29    468.505  Record and plat of election districts.
  2 30    At the time of making a division into five election
  2 31 districts, as provided in section 468.504, the board or boards
  2 32 shall designate by congressional divisions, subdivisions,
  2 33 metes and bounds, or other intelligible description, the
  2 34 lands embraced in each election district, and the auditor, or
  2 35 auditors if more than one county shall make a plat thereof in
  3  1 the drainage record of the district indicating thereon the
  3  2 boundary lines of each election district, numbering them, one,
  3  3 two, and three, four, and five respectively.
  3  4    Sec. 5.  Section 468.518, Code 2018, is amended to read as
  3  5 follows:
  3  6    468.518  Tenure of office.
  3  7    The trustees so elected shall hold office until the
  3  8 fourth Saturday in January next succeeding their election
  3  9 and until their successors are elected and qualify. On the
  3 10 third Saturday in the January next succeeding their original
  3 11 election, an election shall be held at which three five
  3 12  trustees shall be chosen, one for one year, one two for two
  3 13 years, and one two for three years, and each shall qualify and
  3 14 enter upon the duties of the office on the fourth Saturday of
  3 15 the same January. On the third Saturday in each succeeding
  3 16 January, an election shall be held to choose a each successor
  3 17 to the trustee whose term is about to expire, and the term
  3 18 of the trustee's office shall be for three years and until a
  3 19 successor has qualified.
  3 20    Sec. 6.  Section 468.519, Code 2018, is amended to read as
  3 21 follows:
  3 22    468.519  Levee and pumping station districts == tenure of
  3 23 office of trustees.
  3 24    In levee and drainage districts having pumping stations
  3 25 trustees shall hold office until the fourth Saturday in January
  3 26 three years after election. On the third Saturday in January
  3 27 of each year a trustee shall be elected for a term of three
  3 28 years to succeed the member of the board whose term will expire
  3 29 on the following Saturday in the same manner as provided in
  3 30 section 468.518. At the election there shall also be elected,
  3 31 if necessary, a trustee to fill any vacancy which occurred
  3 32 before the election.
  3 33    Sec. 7.  Section 468.539, Code 2018, is amended to read as
  3 34 follows:
  3 35    468.539  Qualified application.
  4  1 Part 2 of this subchapter shall also apply to this part,
  4  2 except as follows:
  4  3    1.  The trustees of the overlying district serving on the
  4  4 board at the time of acceptance as described in section 468.538
  4  5 shall be considered initially elected as the trustees of the
  4  6 drainage or levee district as provided in sections 468.502,
  4  7 468.503, and 468.521, until the next election.
  4  8    2.  a.  The Until the next election, the board of trustees
  4  9 described in subsection 1 shall do all of the following:
  4 10    (1)  Establish the overlying district as a new drainage
  4 11 or levee district, which must include all improvements and
  4 12 rights=of=way surrendered by a board of supervisors or board of
  4 13 trustees of the contained district.
  4 14    (2)  Divide the new drainage or levee district into three
  4 15  five election districts in the same manner as a board of
  4 16 supervisors acting pursuant to sections 468.504 and 468.505.
  4 17    b.  The petition described in section 468.501 is not required
  4 18 to be filed or considered under this subsection.
  4 19    3.  Each of the three five persons elected as trustee to
  4 20 serve on a new drainage or levee district established pursuant
  4 21 to an election held by the board of trustees described in
  4 22 subsection 1 shall hold office for a staggered term as provided
  4 23 in section 468.518. A person elected as a trustee of the new
  4 24 drainage or levee district shall be elected from a specified
  4 25 election district, unless the person is elected at large as
  4 26 provided in subsection 4.
  4 27    4.  The board of trustees described in subsection 1 or a
  4 28 subsequent board of trustees of the new drainage or levee
  4 29 district may provide for the election of two additional
  4 30 persons to serve as trustees. The two additional persons shall
  4 31 be elected at large by all qualified voters for the entire
  4 32 drainage or levee district. Of the five persons elected as
  4 33 trustees of the new drainage or levee district, not more than
  4 34 two persons shall be elected from the same specified election
  4 35 district. One person's initial term shall be for one year and
  5  1 the second person's initial term shall be for two years in the
  5  2 same manner as provided in section 468.518. 
  5  3    5.  4.  Votes shall be determined as provided pursuant to
  5  4 either section 468.510 or 468.511 in the same manner as was
  5  5 determined for the overlying district.
  5  6    Sec. 8.  IMPLEMENTATION.
  5  7    1.  Notwithstanding the provisions of this Act to the
  5  8 contrary, an administrator who is a member of a board of county
  5  9 drainage administrators or a trustee who is a member of a board
  5 10 of trustees under chapter 468 and who held office immediately
  5 11 prior to this Act's effective date shall continue to hold
  5 12 office in the same manner as if this Act had not been enacted.
  5 13    2.  Notwithstanding section 468.231, a board of county
  5 14 drainage administrators shall divide the county into five
  5 15 administrative areas as required in this Act.
  5 16    3.  Notwithstanding sections 468.504 and 468.539, a board
  5 17 of trustees of a district containing twenty thousand acres or
  5 18 more, shall divide the district into five election districts as
  5 19 required in this Act.  The board of trustees shall provide for
  5 20 the election of successor trustees to serve staggered terms as
  5 21 provided in this Act.
  5 22    4.  This section is repealed on January 1, 2020.
  5 23                           EXPLANATION
  5 24 The inclusion of this explanation does not constitute agreement with
  5 25 the explanation's substance by the members of the general assembly.
  5 26    GENERAL.  This bill relates to drainage and levee districts
  5 27 (districts) under Code chapter 468, by increasing the number
  5 28 of members of a special governing body responsible for
  5 29 managing a district.  A special governing body includes a
  5 30 board of drainage administrators appointed by the county
  5 31 board of supervisors or joint board of supervisors and a
  5 32 board of trustees elected by a district's landowners.  The
  5 33 bill increases the number of appointed administrators or
  5 34 elected trustees from three to five. The bill also requires
  5 35 districts be divided into subunits (administrative areas or
  6  1 election districts) from which an administrator or trustee
  6  2 resides.  Finally, it provides for staggering the terms of
  6  3 office of successor administrators and trustees, and provides
  6  4 that existing boards must oversee the creation of the five new
  6  5 subunits and the board of trustees must supervise a subsequent
  6  6 election. These preparations must occur prior to January 1,
  6  7 2020.
  6  8    BACKGROUND == BOARD OF DRAINAGE ADMINISTRATORS AND BOARD OF
  6  9 TRUSTEES.  After a drainage district has been established by a
  6 10 county's board of supervisors or joint board of supervisors,
  6 11 the board may transfer its authority to an appointed board of
  6 12 county drainage administrators (Code chapter 468, subchapter
  6 13 I, part 4) or an elected board of trustees (Code chapter 468,
  6 14 subchapter II, part 3).  In the case of a district to be managed
  6 15 by a board of county drainage administrators, the board of
  6 16 supervisors must divide the county into three administrative
  6 17 areas (Code section 468.231).  In the case of a district that
  6 18 contains 20,000 acres or more, the county board of supervisors
  6 19 must divide the district into three election districts (Code
  6 20 section 468.504). One exception is when two or more districts
  6 21 share mutual territory and one district dissolves and cedes its
  6 22 jurisdiction to the other "overlying" district having 35,000 or
  6 23 more acres (Code chapter 468, subchapter III, part 3).  In that
  6 24 case, the overlying district may divide the district into five
  6 25 election districts, with two trustees serving on an at=large
  6 26 basis (Code section 468.539).
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