Mutual water companies: open meetings.

Under existing law, a mutual water company is defined as a corporation organized for or engaged in the business of selling, distributing, supplying, or delivering water for irrigation or domestic purposes that provides in its articles or bylaws that the water shall be sold, distributed, supplied, or delivered only to owners of its shares, as specified. A mutual water company may be organized under the General Corporation Law or the Nonprofit Mutual Benefit Corporation Law. The Mutual Water Company Open Meeting Act authorizes an eligible person, upon 24 hours advance written notice, to attend meetings of the board of directors of a mutual water company that operates a public water system, except when the board adjourns to, or meets solely in, executive session. This bill would prohibit a mutual water company from meeting solely in an executive session without holding a meeting. The bill would require notice of a meeting to be given to an eligible person at least 4 days prior to the meetings. The bill would require a board of directors of a mutual water company to allow an eligible person to personally attend a meeting of the board, if the eligible person gave the board at least 24 hours advance written notice of his or her intent to personally attend the meeting. The bill would authorize the board to allow an eligible person who was denied attendance at a meeting for failure to provide this notice, or because the number of eligible persons having already provided notice of attendance exceeds the room capacity of the place of the meeting, to attend the meeting by teleconference, and would further require the board to provide to an eligible person attending a meeting by teleconference a copy of the documents to be discussed at the meeting, as specified.