Public Utilities Code, 1951

With board consent, the general manager may place district securities with a qualifying trust department or trust company, and must take a receipt for them.

If a majority of employees want labor representation, the transit board must bargain with the accredited representative, and both sides must bargain in good faith. The section also restricts certain labor contracts and bars employment discrimination by the district.

If there is a dispute about employee representation or whether a bargaining unit is appropriate, the matter must be submitted to the State Conciliation Service, which must promptly hold a public hearing and may set bargaining unit boundaries and provide for an election.

If a district acquires utility facilities, it must appoint qualifying utility employees to comparable district positions without examination and must carry over certain leave and credit records.

When a district acquires a utility’s existing facilities and the utility has an operating pension plan, the plan’s members and beneficiaries keep their rights, benefits, obligations, and status, if the utility’s pension liabilities were accounted for in the purchase price.

When a public utility is acquired by a district, the agreement or order must specify who is entitled to pension benefits and what those benefits are.

Certain pension recipients or beneficiaries may, by mutual agreement with the district, join the district retirement system or receive pensions under it.

The board may pay insurance and retirement-related premiums for district officers or employees, and a district may deduct certain amounts from employee wages or salaries if employees authorize it.

The board may establish a retirement system for district officers and employees and may provide related benefits.

The district may keep its own retirement fund or provide retirement benefits through insurance or another board-approved method.

Before establishing a retirement system, the board must get a report from a qualified actuary.

The board may adopt ordinances and resolutions and do other acts needed for the retirement system.

A district may join certain retirement or social security systems by contract, and may do whatever is necessary to carry out that participation.

The board may decide which officers and employees are included in the retirement system, and it may change that classification. Once classified, membership is compulsory, but elective officers are excluded.

The board may set benefit terms, conditions, and benefit amounts for district officers, employees, or their beneficiaries. A former employee who becomes a board member is not covered by the retirement system for board service.

A retirement allowance may be based partly on a member’s prior service with the district or a predecessor public utility before the retirement system was established.

The board may require the district or certain officers or employees to pay retirement system costs, and the board sets the officer or employee contribution amount.

Members of the retirement system must contribute as the board तय fixes, and the contributions may be deducted from their pay.

The district must pay certain retirement-system liabilities with district contributions, and it may use annual appropriations for prior-service or other district liabilities.

If a member leaves the retirement system before retirement, the member’s contributions plus credited interest must be returned. The board may set terms for leaving contributions in the fund and for any retirement allowance after service ends.

Money paid from the retirement system is generally protected: it cannot be assigned and is exempt from execution or other process, except as allowed by Code of Civil Procedure Section 704.110.

If the board establishes a retirement system under this chapter, it must create a retirement board with no more than five members, including at least two elected employee representatives.

Members of the retirement board must serve without pay.

The retirement board must decide who is eligible for participation in the retirement system and may adjust service and disability allowances.

If the district keeps its own retirement fund, the retirement board has exclusive control over that fund’s administration, investment, and disbursement.

The board must get an actuarial valuation of the retirement fund at least once every four years after the retirement system is established, and then make any necessary changes to contribution rates, service conditions, and retirement allowances.

Certain board, retirement-board, retirement-system, and district employees must not have interests in investments, borrow retirement funds, or act as endorsers, sureties, or obligors for retirement fund investments, except as provided.

A district has perpetual succession and may adopt and change its seal.

A district may sue and be sued in actions and proceedings before courts and tribunals of competent jurisdiction, unless another law provides otherwise.

A district may use eminent domain to take property needed for its powers, and must pay certain public utility relocation costs when utility equipment must be moved.

A district may make contracts and enter into stipulations of any nature whatsoever, including for indemnity, labor, and other acts needed to exercise its powers.

The district’s general manager and directors must not have any direct or indirect interest in contracts awarded by the board or in the profits from those contracts.

A district may acquire, hold, and use property, and its board may lease, mortgage, sell, or otherwise dispose of property if it is in the district’s best interests.

If the board decides by resolution that a district record, map, book, or paper is no longer of value, it may authorize its sale, destruction, or other disposal.

A district may acquire and operate transit facilities and related structures, but freeway installations need State Department of Public Works approval and other state highway installations must follow the Streets and Highways Code.

A district may accept contributions and enter contracts to support transit facilities, and may cooperate with state or public agencies for those facilities and their financing.

A district may not interfere with or control transit facilities owned or operated within the district by a city or public agency unless that city or agency consents and the terms are mutually agreed.

A district may lease or contract for the use of its transit facilities, and may allow subleases by the operator under terms it considers in the public interest.

A district may build or acquire and operate transit works and facilities, but must maintain rail-adjacent street areas, restore streets after rail removal, avoid unnecessary impairment of street usefulness, and take over certain maintenance obligations when it acquires a private transit company’s facilities.

A district may make transit-related agreements with cities, public agencies, or public utilities.

The board must fix the rates and charges for service provided under this part, and they must be reasonable.

Certain local governing bodies may request a hearing on district rates, charges, or facility locations, and the request must be written and state the subject matter.

When a hearing request is filed, the district board must set the hearing time and place, with the hearing date between 15 and 60 days after filing.

Certain boards of supervisors or city councils may intervene at a hearing and are entitled to speak and present evidence if they are eligible to request the hearing and were not parties to the original request.

The district, petitioners, and intervenors may call and examine witnesses, introduce exhibits, cross-examine opposing witnesses on relevant matters, and rebut evidence from other parties.

Oral evidence must be given only under oath or affirmation, and the hearing is not bound by technical evidence rules.

The district’s general counsel must attend the hearing, advise the board on legal matters, and provide any other assistance the board requests.

A reporter appointed by the board must record the full hearing proceedings and testimony.

The board must issue a written decision with written findings of fact within 30 days after the case is submitted, and send copies to petitioners and intervenors by registered mail.

A petitioner may apply for a writ of mandate within 40 days after the decision is mailed, and the district must prepare and deliver the record within 30 days after request, if the preparation and certification costs are paid.

A district may borrow money, incur debt, and issue bonds. Debt over the district’s ordinary annual income and revenue needs approval by a two-thirds vote of the voters, unless the debt fits the stated bond-issue exception.

A district may borrow money for certain current-year expenses before tax levy funds are received, but the borrowing is capped, the notes’ interest is capped, and the notes must mature within two years.

A district must not incur public-works debt that exceeds 20% of the assessed value of the district’s real and personal property.

Certain transit-facility indebtedness is excluded from the debt limit if it meets specified revenue conditions.

A district may accept federal or state contributions or loans for transit facilities, may contract and cooperate with government entities for those facilities, and may do what is necessary to use that aid.

The district may buy transit equipment and use leases or equipment trust certificates to finance it.

An equipment purchase or lease agreement may authorize specific financing and delivery arrangements for rolling equipment.

The district must authorize certain agreements, leases, and equipment trust certificates by resolution, and those documents must include terms needed to protect repayment from transit system revenue or income.