Metropolitan water districts: proxy vote authorizations.

A new proxy vote authorization mechanism is added, allowing a single-representative member public agency to assign voting authority to a representative of another member public agency when the assigning representative cannot attend board meetings.

Proxy vote authorizations must be memorialized in a written instrument filed with the district's Board Secretary at least one business day before the meeting and maintained with district records.

A proxy vote authorization is limited to no more than one week in duration, excludes committee meetings, and cannot authorize assumption of an officer position at the designated meeting.

A representative may not assign more than six proxy vote authorizations in any calendar year.

Only representatives of member public agencies entitled to designate or appoint exactly one representative to the board may assign proxy vote authorizations.

All provisions of the Metropolitan Water District Act (including Section 56) apply to the assigned representative, and all conflict of interest laws applicable to the assigning representative also bind the assigned representative. A conflict held by either party applies equally to the assigned representative for any conflicted item.

The bill was renumbered as Chapter 266 and the Governor's approval date (October 3, 2025) was added. The enrolled header with passage dates and clerk signatures was replaced with the standard authenticated chaptered format.

Page numbers changed from 96 to 95 and page headers changed from 'AB 523' to 'Ch. 266' to reflect the new statutory compilation numbering.

The entire alternate representative provision (former subdivision (c)) was deleted. This had allowed a member public agency with only one board seat to designate an alternate who could attend meetings when the primary representative was absent, subject to a 5-business-day notice requirement and cost responsibility.

A sunset date of January 1, 2030 was added. The current Section 52 (including proxy vote provisions) is repealed on that date, and a new Section 52 containing the proxy vote authorization provisions becomes operative on the same date.

The limit on proxy vote authorizations was changed from 'more than six times in any year' to 'more than six board meetings in any calendar year,' clarifying that the cap applies per board meeting attended and is measured by calendar year rather than a rolling year.

The bill title was expanded from 'amend Section 52' to 'amend, repeal, and add Section 52' to reflect the new two-section structure. The term 'Board Secretary' was changed to lowercase 'board secretary.'

The proxy vote authorization limit was changed from two separate restrictions (effective for no longer than one week AND no more than six assignments per calendar year) to a single restriction (effective for no more than six board meetings in any calendar year). This removes the one-week time cap, giving representatives more flexibility to use a proxy across meetings that may be spaced further apart, while still capping total usage at six meetings per year.