Central Basin Municipal Water District: receivership.

(1) Existing law, the Municipal Water District Law of 1911, provides for the formation of municipal water districts and grants to those districts specified powers. Existing law permits a district to acquire, control, distribute, store, spread, sink, treat, purify, recycle, recapture, and salvage any water for the beneficial use of the district, its inhabitants, or the owners of rights to water in the district. Existing law requires the board of directors of the Central Basin Municipal Water District (CBMWD) to be composed of 8 directors until the directors elected at the November 8, 2022, election take office, when the board would be composed of 7 directors, as prescribed. This bill would dissolve the board of directors of CBMWD and would provide that the November 3, 2020, election for directors of CBMWD shall not occur. The bill would require the Water Replenishment District of Southern California (WRD) to act as the receiver for CBMWD, would vest WRD with all necessary powers under the Municipal Water District Law of 1911 to take control of CBMWD, and would transfer all powers vested in the board of directors of CBMWD to the board of directors of WRD, except as specified. The bill would require CBMWD's board of directors to surrender all control of CBMWD and its resources to WRD. The bill would require the Local Agency Formation Commission for the County of Los Angeles to conduct a municipal service review of CBMWD and to seek ideas through a public process for governance of CBMWD. The bill would require the commission to report the results of those activities to the Legislature, as provided. The bill would make its provisions inoperative 18 months after the effective date of the bill and would repeal its provisions as of January 1 of the following year. By imposing additional duties on the board of directors of CBMWD, WRD, and the Local Agency Formation Commission for the County of Los Angeles, the bill would impose a state-mandated local program. (2) This bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the Central Basin Municipal Water District. (3) The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that reimbursement. This bill would provide that with regard to certain mandates no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason. With regard to any other mandates, this bill would provide that, if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs so mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs shall be made pursuant to the statutory provisions noted above. (4) This bill would declare that it is to take effect immediately as an urgency statute.