Public Utilities Code, 1951

The commission’s governing board must elect a chairperson and vice chairperson, and the chairperson or vice chairperson must preside when assigned.

The board must establish rules for its proceedings, and those rules must be consistent with California law.

A majority of the board’s voting members is needed for a quorum, and board official acts need a majority affirmative vote.

The board must express its acts by motion, resolution, or ordinance.

Board meetings must follow the Ralph M. Brown Act. Board committees must meet under Government Code Section 54952.3, and each committee must have at least three voting members.

The board must adopt a budget, set officer and employee compensation, adopt an administrative code, arrange an annual postaudit, and appoint specified advisory committees.

Notice of the annual budget hearing must be published at least 15 days before the hearing, and the proposed budget must be available for public inspection at least 15 days before the hearing.

Refunding bonds are not treated as new or increased indebtedness, voter approval is not required, and the board may provide for their call and redemption before maturity.

The commission may use up to 3% of local transportation fund revenues for its planning and programming work, sue and be sued, make contracts with qualified vendors, and do anything necessary to carry out the division.

The commission may assist participating local agencies in Imperial County, run certain nontransportation programs, and apply for and receive grants and moneys, but it must not use transportation moneys or Measure D sales tax revenues for nontransportation purposes.

The commission must prepare a short-range transportation plan, consult specified agencies and others when doing so, administer local transportation fund money under the cited act, and prepare the short-range transit plan required by that act.

Only property in a special district may be taxed to pay the principal and interest on refunding bonds issued to refund a special district’s indebtedness.

Refunding bond matters under this chapter are governed by specified Government Code articles, unless this article provides otherwise.

Proceeds from refunding bonds may be used only to buy back or retire the bonded debt they refunded.

The board may exchange refunding bonds for the bonds being refunded, instead of selling the bonds and using the proceeds.

When refunded, outstanding bonds must be surrendered to the district treasurer, who must cancel them by endorsement and perforation.

District bonds, including refunding bonds, are allowed as legal investments for specified funds and institutions.

District bonds may be used by state or national banks in the State as security for deposits of public funds.

A legal action to determine whether bonds are valid may be brought under the cited civil procedure chapter.

The board may authorize debt for repairing or replacing district works that have been damaged or demolished, if specified vote and finding conditions are met.

After the required finding under Section 13345, the district may borrow money and issue bonds, notes, or other securities without holding an election.

The board may levy and collect district taxes for repayment of chapter debt, and it must apply for available state or federal repair funds.

A district may borrow and issue debt for specified chapter purposes, subject to board approval rules, maturity limits, and an overall principal cap.

The district may issue refunding debt instruments to pay and redeem existing indebtedness, subject to debt limits and a seven-year maturity cap.

The board may levy and collect taxes on district property, without rate or amount limits, to pay the principal and interest on this indebtedness.

This chapter applies only to certain districts meeting the system-ownership and population requirements.

This section defines “revenues of the district” for this chapter by tying it to the meaning in Government Code Section 54315.

If bonds are issued under this article, the board’s preliminary resolution takes effect when adopted, subject to the article’s referendum right. The board may also authorize successive bond issues, and that authority is not limited to any one issue.

If a resolution authorizes bonds, the board must publish it, and a referendum petition may be filed within 60 days after the second publication. If a proper petition is filed, the resolution has no effect unless voters approve it.

If no referendum petition is filed within 60 days, or if voters approve the bond proposition, the board’s resolution takes full effect and the board may issue bonds under the resolution.

The board may, and in some cases must, call a special election for voters to decide on issuing revenue bonds, and the election resolution must set the date, proposition, and voting details.

A district may borrow money and incur debt to buy electricity, but the outstanding principal under this article cannot exceed $25 million at any time.

Chapter provisions apply to evidences of indebtedness issued under this article, unless a provision is inconsistent with the article or is made inapplicable by its own terms.

This section allows one or more special districts for sewage disposal or solid waste resource recovery to be created within a district’s boundaries, following the chapter’s rules.

A proposed special district can be formed only after resolutions are passed by at least half, and at least two, of the relevant public agencies’ legislative bodies, and the resolutions must state the public need and describe the district boundaries.

A formation petition may be filed with the district secretary if it is signed by voters in the proposed special district equal to at least 10% of the total vote cast.

A petition for creating the special district must state that the public interest or necessity requires the district, and if the petition is split across separate papers, each paper must include the circulator’s affidavit verifying the signatures.

The district secretary must compare petition signatures with voter registration affidavits and certify whether the petition is sufficient or insufficient.

The board may start proceedings to create a special district for sewage disposal or solid waste resource recovery by resolution.

The board must, within 60 days, designate the special district by resolution, set a hearing time and place, and publish notice of the hearing.

The notice of hearing must be published once in a newspaper of general circulation published in the district.

The hearing date must be set between 30 and 60 days after the first publication of the notice.

Interested persons may file written objections before the hearing, and the board must hear and decide all protests and objections.

The board may reduce or enlarge the boundaries of a proposed special district, but any enlarged boundaries must stay within the district.

The board may not approve creating a special district with extra territory unless notice is published and a hearing is held.

A public agency, or part of one, cannot be included in a special district unless its legislative body agrees by resolution or the district formation started by voter petition.

If no protests are filed, or if filed protests are overruled and denied, the board must approve creation of the special district by resolution.

The commission may determine the value of public utility property and related facts, and may revalue that property from time to time.

After approving the proposed special district and fixing its boundaries, the board must call and publish notice of an election in the district.

A person may vote in the election only if they are a voter in the territory of the proposed special district.

If bond-incurring and district-creation propositions are on the same ballot, the bond votes must be separately canvassed, and bonds may be issued only if two-thirds of voters on the bond proposition vote in favor.

The commission may hold a hearing to examine the matters in Section 1351, but it must give the affected public utility at least 30 days’ written notice stating the hearing’s time and place.

The commission may make written findings of fact on evidence before it about the value of a public utility’s property, and those findings are reviewable by courts.

For creating a special district, the vote returns for each public agency and each parcel of unincorporated territory must be canvassed separately, and the board must declare the district created if each area has a majority in favor.

A special district has no separate corporate existence and is treated as a taxing subdivision of the district.

The commission may hold additional hearings and investigations to revalue public utility property or determine the value of later additions and changes, and may make supplementary findings.

The board may set the points, manner, rules, terms, charges, and conditions for connecting sewers in the special district to the district’s intercepting sewers.

The district is not required to build sewers other than intercepting and outfall sewers, and the board’s determination of what counts as those sewers is final.