Water Code, 1943

If a petition consists of separate instruments, only one instrument needs to be published, but the names attached to all instruments must appear in the publication.

Errors or defects in the published notice, petition, or petition signatures do not invalidate the proceedings.

If a federal court case concerns rights to water within or partly within California, the board may take the case as a master or referee for the court.

When acting under this chapter, the board must follow the court’s practice and procedure rules or any other direction the court gives.

The formation petition must be presented to the board of supervisors of the principal county.

The petition must be presented at a regular meeting of the board of supervisors.

The board of supervisors must hear competent and relevant testimony about whether the petition is sufficient and whether the notice was published properly.

The hearing may be adjourned from time to time, but the total adjournment time cannot exceed two weeks.

At the hearing, the board of supervisors must decide by resolution whether the petition and notice comply with Chapter 1 and whether the district is being proposed mainly to provide irrigation services.

A petition must be dismissed if the board of supervisors finds the filing or notice did not meet the formation requirements, or if the district is being formed mainly for some purpose other than irrigation services.

If the board of supervisors finds the petition and notice requirements were met, that determination is called the preliminary formation resolution.

A copy of the petition must be filed in the department’s office no later than the day the petition is presented to the board of supervisors.

After the preliminary formation resolution is adopted, the board of supervisors must send a copy to the department.

When the department receives a copy of the resolution, it must make a preliminary investigation to assess the project’s feasibility.

The department must submit a written report to the board of supervisors as soon as practicable, and no later than 90 days after the preliminary formation resolution is adopted, unless the board grants up to 90 more days.

If the department reports that water supply is insufficient or the project is otherwise not feasible, the petition hearing may be continued for up to two months and then dismissed unless certain landholders petition the board or the board revises the project.

The board of supervisors must set a time for the final hearing of the formation petition by its first regular meeting after certain listed events occur.

The final hearing must be scheduled at least one week after the meeting where that time is set.

Notice of the final hearing must be given either by registered mail or by newspaper publication.

Not giving notice of the final hearing does not invalidate later proceedings.

On a final hearing, the board of supervisors may adjourn from time to time, but each adjournment cannot be longer than three days until the matter is determined.

At the final hearing, the board of supervisors decides what land will be included in the proposed district and must exclude land that will not be benefited by the project.

At the final hearing, the board of supervisors generally may not hear evidence against the petition or notice unless a qualifying new evidence showing is made. If new evidence is admitted, rebuttal evidence must be allowed.

After the final hearing, the board of supervisors must issue an order covering the items listed in the section.

The final hearing order must include the district’s division plan, and sometimes statements about at-large directors and consolidated district offices if the petition asks for them.

The order on final hearing must be entered in full in the board of supervisors’ minutes.

The board of supervisors’ finding that the petition and notice are genuine and sufficient is final against everyone except the State in a suit by the Attorney General filed within one year after the order forming the district.

The board of supervisors must call and give notice of a formation election after making the order on the final hearing of the formation petition.

The notice for a formation election must include specific information: the election date and hours, polling place in each precinct, land description, proposed district name, and offices to be filled.

The notice for the formation election must be published once a week for three weeks before the election in a newspaper published in each affected county.

After a district formation election is called, the calling legislative body must send written notice to the local agency formation commission’s executive officer, the executive officer must prepare an impartial analysis within five days, and the commission must act on that analysis within five days.

Certain listed voters and board actors may file a written argument for or against the proposed district formation.

If more than one pro or con argument is filed on the proposed district formation, election officials must choose one argument to print and distribute to voters.

Election officials must print and mail a ballot pamphlet about the district formation proposition to eligible voters, and it must include specified contents.

For a formation election, the board of supervisors must set up a convenient number of election precincts in the proposed district and define their boundaries.

The formation election must be run mostly like a general election, with listed exceptions for notice, nominating petitions, sample ballots, and other inconsistent provisions.

The board of supervisors must act in place of the board, and the clerk of the board of supervisors must act in place of the secretary.

At a formation election, the district’s elective officers are to be elected, and if offices are consolidated, only one person is to be elected for the consolidated offices.

Ballots for a formation election must include a stated proposition asking whether the proposed irrigation district should be formed, along with Yes and No voting spaces.

The board of supervisors must meet on the second Monday after the formation election to count the votes. If a majority of the votes are “Irrigation District—Yes,” it must also count the district office candidates’ votes and declare the highest vote-getters elected.

Minor irregularities in a formation election do not invalidate the election or result if notice was substantially proper and the election was fairly conducted.

A formation election may be contested by any person who owns property liable to assessment in the proposed district.

A contest cannot be brought more than 20 days after the board of supervisors canvasses the election vote.

Directors elected at the formation election must be parties defendant in an election contest.

An election contest must be brought in the superior court of the county where the formation proceedings took place.

If more than one contest is pending, they must be consolidated and tried together.

The court must speedily try the election contest.

An election contest must be decided based on whether the election was fair and substantially complied with the chapter’s requirements, and judgment must be entered accordingly.

A party to an election contest may appeal within 30 days after judgment is entered.

An appeal must be heard and decided within 60 days after the notice of appeal is filed.

If the formation election canvass shows a majority of votes are “Irrigation District—Yes,” the board of supervisors must declare the territory formed as a district under the designated name.

The board of supervisors must immediately file a certified copy of the order declaring the district formed with each affected county recorder and send a copy to each affected county’s board clerk.