AB 1361: Municipal water districts: water service: Indian tribes.

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, upon the request of certain Indian tribes and the satisfaction of certain conditions, requires a district to provide service of water at substantially the same terms applicable to the customers of the district to the Indian tribes lands that are not within a district, as prescribed.

This bill would additionally authorize a district to apply to the applicable local agency formation commission to provide this service of water to Indian lands, as defined, that are not within the district. The bill would require the local agency formation commission to approve the application and authorize the commission to impose conditions on the district with regard to the extension of service. By imposing additional duties on local officials, this bill would impose a state-mandated local program. The bill would prohibit a local agency formation commission from approving an application pursuant to the bills provisions received on or after January 1, 2023, but would authorize a district that received authorization to extend water service to Indian lands before that date to continue to do so after that date.

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 no reimbursement is required by this act for a specified reason.