Bill Text: CA SB519 | 2017-2018 | Regular Session | Introduced

NOTE: There are more recent revisions of this legislation. Read Latest Draft
Bill Title: State highways: property leases.

Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Democrat 4-0)

Status: (Passed) 2018-09-17 - Chaptered by Secretary of State. Chapter 444, Statutes of 2018. [SB519 Detail]

Download: California-2017-SB519-Introduced.html


CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE— 2017–2018 REGULAR SESSION

Senate Bill No. 519


Introduced by Senator Beall

February 16, 2017


An act to amend Sections 5 and 7.9 of the Santa Clara Valley Water District Act (Chapter 1405 of the Statutes of 1951), relating to the Santa Clara Valley Water District.


LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST


SB 519, as introduced, Beall. Santa Clara Valley Water District.
Existing law, the Santa Clara Valley Water District Act, creates the Santa Clara Valley Water District and authorizes the district to provide for the conservation and management of flood, storm, and recycled waters, and other waters, for beneficial uses and to enhance natural resources in connection with carrying out the purposes of the district. The district act authorizes the district to prevent contamination, pollution, or otherwise rendering unfit for beneficial use the surface or subsurface water used or useful in the district, and to commence, maintain, and defend actions and proceedings to prevent interference with the waters that may endanger or damage the inhabitants, lands, or use of water in, or flowing into, the district.
This bill would specify that the district has the authority to engage in acts the board of the district deems appropriate and beneficial to reduce impacts on the waters from activity in and around waterways in the district, as specified.
The district act requires the board of directors to adopt a resolution that divides the district into 7 electoral districts and requires one director to be elected by the voters of each electoral district, as prescribed. The district act requires a candidate for the board of directors to be a resident in the electoral district for which he or she is a candidate and to continue to reside within the electoral district during his or her term of office. The district act requires a vacancy in the office of any director to be filled, as specified.
This bill would require any director appointed or elected to fill a vacancy to represent the electoral district in which the vacancy occurred and to be a qualified elector residing in the electoral district in which the vacancy occurred.
Vote: MAJORITY   Appropriation: NO   Fiscal Committee: NO   Local Program: NO  

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


SECTION 1.

 Section 5 of the Santa Clara Valley Water District Act (Chapter 1405 of the Statutes of 1951), as amended by Chapter 664 of the Statutes of 2002, is amended to read:

Sec. 5.
 The district is hereby declared to be a body corporate and politic and, in addition to other powers granted by this act, may take action to carry out all of the following purposes:
1.To have perpetual succession.
2.To sue and be sued in the name of the district in all actions and proceedings in all courts and tribunals of competent jurisdiction.
3.To adopt a seal and alter it at pleasure.
4.To acquire by grant, purchase, lease, gift, devise, contract, construction, or otherwise, and to hold, use, enjoy, sell, let, and dispose of real and personal property of every kind, including lands, structures, buildings, rights-of-way, easements, and privileges, and to construct, maintain, alter, and operate any and all works or improvements, within or outside the district, necessary or proper to carry out any of the objects or purposes of this act and convenient to the full exercise of its powers, and to complete, extend, add to, alter, remove, repair, or otherwise improve any works, or improvements, or property acquired by it as authorized by this act.
5.To store water in surface or underground reservoirs within or outside of the district for the common benefit of the district or of any zone or zones affected; to conserve, reclaim, recycle, distribute, store, and manage water for present and future use within the district; to appropriate and acquire water and water rights, and import water into the district and to conserve within or outside the district, water for any purpose useful to the district; and to do any and every lawful act necessary to be done that sufficient water may be available for any present or future beneficial use or uses of the lands or inhabitants within the district, including, but not limited to, the acquisition, storage, and distribution of water for irrigation, domestic, fire protection, municipal, commercial, industrial, environmental, and all other beneficial uses; to distribute, sell, or otherwise dispose of, outside the district, any waters not needed for beneficial uses within the district; to commence, maintain, intervene in, defend, or compromise, in the name of the district on behalf of the landowners therein, or otherwise, and to assume the costs and expenses of any action or proceeding involving or affecting the ownership or use of waters or water rights within or outside the district, used or useful for any purpose of the district or of common benefit to any land situated therein, or involving the wasteful use of water therein; to commence, maintain, intervene in, defend, and compromise and to assume the cost and expenses of any and all actions and proceedings now or hereafter begun; to prevent interference with or diminution of, or to declare rights in the natural flow of any stream or surface or subterranean supply of water used or useful for any purpose of the district or of common benefit to the lands within the district or to its inhabitants; to prevent unlawful exportation of water from the district; to prevent contamination, pollution, or otherwise rendering unfit for beneficial use the surface or subsurface water used or useful in the district, and to commence, maintain, and defend actions and proceedings to prevent any such interference with the described waters as may endanger or damage the inhabitants, lands, or use of water in, or flowing into, the district; district, including to engage in acts the board of the district deems appropriate and beneficial to reduce impacts on the described waters from activity in and around waterways in the district, including, but not limited to, camping, construction, and the discharge or disposal of waste or other materials; provided, however, that the district shall not have power to intervene or take part in, or to pay the costs or expenses of, actions or controversies between the owners of lands or water rights that do not affect the interests of the district.
6.To control the flood and storm waters of the district and the flood and storm waters of streams that have their sources outside of the district, but which streams and the floodwaters thereof, flow into said district, and to conserve such waters for beneficial and useful purposes of the district by spreading, storing, retaining, and causing to percolate into the soil within or without the district, or to save or conserve in any manner all or any of those waters and protect from damage from those flood or storm waters the watercourses, watersheds, public highways, life, and property in the district, and the watercourses outside of the district of streams flowing into the district.
7.To enter upon any land, to make surveys and locate the necessary works of improvement and the lines for channels, conduits, canals, pipelines, roadways, and other rights-of-way; to acquire by purchase, lease, contract, gift, devise, or other legal means all lands and water and water rights and other property necessary or convenient for the construction, use, supply, maintenance, repair, and improvement of the works, including works constructed and being constructed by private owners, lands for reservoirs for storage of necessary water, and all necessary appurtenances, and also where necessary or convenient to that end, and for those purposes and uses, to acquire and to hold in the name of the state, the capital stock of any mutual water company or corporation, domestic or foreign, owning water or water rights, canals, waterworks, franchises, concessions, or rights, when the ownership of such stock is necessary to secure a water supply required by the district or any part thereof, upon the condition that when holding such stock, the district shall be entitled to all the rights, powers, and privileges, and shall be subject to all the obligations and liabilities conferred or imposed by law upon other holders of such stock in the same company; to cooperate with, act in conjunction with, enter into and to do any acts necessary for the proper performance of any agreement with the State of California, or any of its engineers, officers, boards, commissions, departments, or agencies, or with the government of the United States, or any of its engineers, officers, boards, commissions, departments, or agencies or with any state, city and county, city, county, district of any kind, public or private corporation, association, firm, or individual, or any number of them, for the ownership, joint acquisition, leasing, disposition, use, management, construction, installation, extension, maintenance, repair, or operation of any rights, works, or other property of a kind which might lawfully be acquired or owned by the district or for the lawful performance of any power or purpose of the district provided for in this act, including, but not limited to, the granting of the right to the use of any water or the right to store that water in any reservoir of the district or to carrying that water through any tunnel, canal, ditch, or conduit of the district or for the delivery, sale, or exchange of any water right, water supply, or water pumped, stored, appropriated, or otherwise acquired or secured for the use of the district, or for controlling drainage waters, or flood or storm waters of streams in or running into the district, or for the protection of life or property therein, or for the purpose of conserving any waters for the beneficial use within the district, or in any other works, uses, or purposes provided for in this act; and to adopt and carry out any definite plan or system for accomplishing, facilitating, or financing all work which may lawfully be accomplished by the district and to enforce that plan or system by resolution or ordinance.
8.To carry on technical and other necessary investigations, make measurements, collect data, make analyses, studies, and inspections pertaining to water supply, water rights, control of flood and storm waters, and use of water both within and outside the district relating to watercourses or streams flowing in or into the district. For these purposes, the district shall have the right of access through its authorized representatives to all properties within the district and elsewhere relating to watercourses and streams flowing in or into said district. The district, through its authorized representatives, may enter upon such lands and make examinations, surveys, and maps thereof.
9.To prescribe, revise, and collect fees and charges for facilities furnished or to be furnished to any new building, improvement, or structure by the use of any flood control or storm drainage system constructed or to be constructed in a zone of the district, and whenever a drainage or flood control problem is referred to the district by the County of Santa Clara, or any incorporated city therein, to require the installation of drainage or flood control improvements necessary and/or convenient for needs of the zone, including, but not limited to, residential, subdivision, commercial, and industrial drainage and flood control needs, that county and those cities being hereby authorized to refer all drainage and flood control problems, arising under the Subdivision Map Act (Division 2 (commencing with Section 66410) of Title 7 of the Government Code) or otherwise, to the district for solution. Revenues derived under this section shall be used for the acquisition, construction, reconstruction, maintenance, and operation of the flood control or storm drainage facilities of the zone, to reduce the principal or interest of any bonded indebtedness thereof, or to replace funds expended on behalf of that zone derived from the fund created pursuant to subdivision 1 of Section 13.
10.To incur indebtedness, and to issue bonds in accordance with this act.
11.To cause taxes or assessments to be levied and collected for the purpose of paying any obligation of the district, and to carry out any of the purposes of this act, in the manner hereinafter provided.
12. To make contracts, and to employ labor, and to do all acts necessary for the full exercise of all powers vested in the district or any of the officers thereof, by this act.
13.To have the power and right to disseminate information concerning the rights, properties, activities, plans, and proposals of the district; provided, however, that expenditures during any fiscal year for those purposes shall not exceed one-half cent ($0.005) for each one hundred dollars ($100) of assessed valuation of the district.
14.To pay to any city, public agency, district, or educational institution recognized under Chapter 3 (commencing with Section 94301) of Part 59 of the Education Code, a portion of the cost of water imported by that city, public agency, district, or educational institution into, for use within, and of benefit to the Santa Clara Valley Water District.
15.To establish designated floodways in accordance with the Cobey-Alquist Flood Plain Management Act (Chapter 4 (commencing with Section 8400) of Part 2 of Division 5 of the Water Code).
16.To acquire, construct, maintain, operate, and install landscaping or recreational facilities in connection with any dam, reservoir, or other works owned or controlled by the district.
17.To acquire, construct, maintain, operate and install, lease, and control facilities for the generation, transmission, distribution, sale, exchange, and lease of electric power.
18.To require the sealing of abandoned or unused wells according to standards adopted by the board by ordinance and designed to protect the groundwater resources of the district from contamination. Upon and following the effective date of the ordinance, the County of Santa Clara or any incorporated city therein shall require all persons applying for any land development permit or approval to show the existence and location of any water well upon a map of the property the subject of the application. When a well is shown, the map shall be referred to the district immediately upon receipt for review and investigation. If upon review and investigation the district determines that the well or wells are to be sealed by the applicant pursuant to the ordinance, the determination shall be transmitted promptly to the applicant by the district as a requirement in writing.

SEC. 2.

 Section 7.9 of the Santa Clara Valley Water District Act (Chapter 1405 of the Statutes of 1951), as amended by Chapter 443 of the Statutes of 2009, is amended to read:

Sec. 7.9.

 A vacancy in the office of any director shall be filled pursuant to Section 1780 of the Government Code. Any director appointed or elected to fill a vacancy in either of the offices described in subdivision (a) of Section 7.1 shall represent the electoral district at large in which the vacancy occurred and shall be a qualified elector residing in the County of Santa Clara. electoral district in which the vacancy occurred.
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