City of Santa Fe Springs: sale of water utility property.

Removed amendment history headers (March 9, March 16, April 6, 2026) and replaced with passage dates: Passed the Assembly May 14, 2026 and Passed the Senate August 17, 2026.

Removed line numbers (line 1 through line 26) and duplicate placeholder paragraph numbers that were artifacts of renumbering in the amended draft. The enrolled version has clean sequential numbering from (1) to (8).

The legislative counsel's digest removed the phrase 'as amended' from the bill title reference, reflecting final passage rather than a pending amendment.

Added Governor's approval block at the end of the enrolled version with blank date fields for the Governor's signature.

A new condition (paragraph 4) requires that the receiving water system's service area must border the service area of the subsumed water system, adding a geographic contiguity requirement to the consolidation criteria.

Paragraphs formerly numbered (4) through (7) were renumbered to (5) through (8) to accommodate the new paragraph, and the final resolution requirement was updated to reference 'paragraphs (1) to (6), (7), inclusive' instead of 'paragraphs (1) to (6), inclusive.'

The bill no longer amends Section 37421 of the Government Code, which dealt with nonsubstantive changes to the existing provision allowing cities to sell public buildings and sites. This removes a secondary topic from the bill entirely.

The definition of 'interested person' (who can file protests against the water utility sale) is expanded to include not only residents of the city but also non-resident ratepayers of the public utility proposed to be sold. This broadens the pool of people whose protests could trigger an election or block the sale.

The fiscal committee vote changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the bill now carries a fiscal impact that requires legislative appropriation review, though no specific dollar amount is stated in the diff.

Added new Section 37420.5 to the Government Code creating a special statute exclusively for the City of Santa Fe Springs to sell its public water utility, with a sunset date of January 1, 2032.

Added legislative findings and declarations (Section 2) stating that a special statute is necessary due to unique circumstances in Santa Fe Springs, as required by Section 16 of Article IV of the California Constitution for local special legislation.

Sale is only permitted if the city's water supply is contaminated, impaired, or presents a public health risk AND the city lacks technical, managerial, or financial capacity to fix it, OR continued operation would impose an unreasonable financial burden on ratepayers as shown by an independent financial analysis under Proposition 218 standards.

Requires fair market value sale (per Code of Civil Procedure Section 1263.320), a four-fifths vote of the city legislative body, and a resolution confirming all requirements are met.

Consolidation must be economically feasible for ratepayers of the subsumed system; ratepayers must be notified of first-year rates and any increases must be phased in over time; service must continue without interruption or degradation.

Protest process: city must hold oral and written protests at its second regularly scheduled meeting after adopting a resolution, with 45 days for hearing. If 10% or more of interested persons (defined as city residents) protest, an election is required and the sale needs majority approval of registered voters. If 50% or more protest, the sale is blocked for one year.

Section 37420.5 sunsets on January 1, 2032, after which it is automatically repealed.

The original nonsubstantive edit to Section 37421 (removing redundant 'When If the' language) is retained but renumbered as a later section in the bill.

Fiscal committee review changed from 'no' to 'yes,' indicating the amended bill now triggers a state fiscal analysis requirement.