The Irrigation District Law provides for the formation of irrigation districts with prescribed powers. The law authorizes an irrigation district to control, distribute, store, spread, sink, treat, purify, recapture, and salvage any water, as specified. Existing law requires the board of directors of a district to hold a regular meeting on the first Tuesday of each month at the district office. Existing law authorizes the Board of Directors of the Tri-Dam Project to hold no more than 4 regular meetings annually at the Tri-Dam Project offices located in Strawberry, California.

This bill would instead authorize the board of directors to hold those regular meetings at a Tri-Dam Project office that is located in Sonora, California, or Strawberry, California, or within 30 miles of either city. The bill would require the board of directors to adopt, at a regular Tri-Dam Project meeting, a resolution that designates Tri-Dam Project office locations.

The Irrigation District Law provides for the formation of irrigation districts with prescribed powers. The law authorizes an irrigation district to control, distribute, store, spread, sink, treat, purify, recapture, and salvage any water, as specified. Existing law requires the board of directors of a district to hold a regular meeting on the first Tuesday of each month at the district office. Existing law authorizes the Board of Directors of the Tri-Dam Project to hold no more than 4 regular meetings annually at the Tri-Dam Project offices located in Strawberry, California.

This bill would instead authorize the board of directors to hold those regular meetings at a Tri-Dam Project office that is located in Sonora, California, or Strawberry, California, or within 30 miles of either city. The bill would require the board of directors to adopt, at a regular Tri-Dam Project meeting, a resolution that designates Tri-Dam Project office locations.

The Irrigation District Law provides for the formation of irrigation districts with prescribed powers. The law authorizes an irrigation district to control, distribute, store, spread, sink, treat, purify, recapture, and salvage any water, as specified. Existing law requires the board of directors of a district to hold a regular meeting on the first Tuesday of each month at the district office. Existing law authorizes the Board of Directors of the Tri-Dam Project to hold no more than 4 regular meetings annually at the Tri-Dam Project offices located in Strawberry, California.

This bill would instead authorize the board of directors to hold those regular meetings at a Tri-Dam Project office that is located in Sonora, California, or Strawberry, California, or within 30 miles of either city. The bill would require the board of directors to adopt, at a regular Tri-Dam Project meeting, a resolution that designates Tri-Dam Project office locations.

The Irrigation District Law provides for the formation of irrigation districts with prescribed powers. The law authorizes an irrigation district to control, distribute, store, spread, sink, treat, purify, recapture, and salvage any water, as specified. Existing law requires the board of directors of a district to hold a regular meeting on the first Tuesday of each month at the district office. Existing law authorizes the Board of Directors of the Tri-Dam Project to hold no more than 4 regular meetings annually at the Tri-Dam Project offices located in Strawberry, California.

This bill would delete the reference to Strawberry, California and would instead require the board of directors to adopt a resolution that determines the location of the Tri-Dam Project offices. instead authorize the board of directors to hold those regular meetings at a Tri-Dam Project office that is located in Sonora, California, or Strawberry, California, or within 30 miles of either city.

The Irrigation District Law provides for the formation of irrigation districts with prescribed powers. The law authorizes an irrigation district to control, distribute, store, spread, sink, treat, purify, recapture, and salvage any water, as specified. Existing law requires the board of directors of a district to hold a regular meeting on the first Tuesday of each month at the district office. Existing law authorizes the Board of Directors of the Tri-Dam Project to hold no more than 4 regular meetings annually at the Tri-Dam Project offices located in Strawberry, California.

This bill would delete the reference to Strawberry, California and would instead require the board of directors to adopt a resolution that determines the location of the Tri-Dam Project offices.

CONCURRENCE IN SENATE AMENDMENTS

CSA1 Bill Id:AB 2748

Author:(Flora)

As Amended Ver:May 23, 2024

Majority vote

SUMMARY

Allows the Board of Directors of the Tri-Dam Project to hold no more than four regular meetings annually at a Tri-Dam Project office that is located in Sonora, California, or Strawberry, California, or within 30 miles of either city.

Senate Amendments

Require the Board of Directors of the Tri-Dam Project to adopt, at a regular Tri-Dam Project meeting, a resolution that designates Tri-Dam Project office locations.

COMMENTS

The Tri-Dam Project is a partnership between the Oakdale Irrigation District and the South San Joaquin Irrigation District, formed via a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) for the purposes of operating and maintaining a hydroelectric system on the Stanislaus River. The JPA's governing board is composed of the members of the boards of directors of the Oakdale Irrigation District, located in Oakdale (Stanislaus County) and the South San Joaquin Irrigation District, located in Manteca (San Joaquin County). The Tri-Dam Project includes the Donnells, Beardsley, and Tulloch reservoirs, and associated dams, tunnels, and other infrastructure that are located outside the jurisdictional boundaries of the two JPA member districts. The Tri-Dam Project office is located in the small town of Strawberry (El Dorado County), which is also outside the jurisdiction of either irrigation district.

The Brown Act generally requires a JPA to meet within its boundaries. However, the Tri-Dam Project JPA is only a joint powers agreement. It is not a separate agency or authority. As such, it has no jurisdictional boundaries of its own. Under normal circumstances, the governing board members of the Project would be required to meet within the boundaries of the JPAs member agencies – in this case, the boundaries of the two irrigation districts.

AB 2240 (House), Chapter 83, Statutes of 1998, provided an exception to this rule for the Tri-Dam board of directors after concerns were raised about several issues. Members and staff were encountering difficulties in transferring documents from the Project facility to Manteca or Oakdale for each monthly meeting. In addition, the JPA board wanted to hold meetings at the Tri-Dam facility to increase public participation from Strawberry residents and businesses, and to allow board members to communicate directly with the Project's employees. AB 2240 allowed the Tri-Dam Project Board of directors to meet up to four times per year at the Project office in Strawberry.

According to the author's office, the Tri-Dam Project is in the process of relocating its principal office from Strawberry to Sonora, California, which is also outside the jurisdictional boundaries of the JPA member agencies. As a result, absent a change to law, Tri-Dam will be precluded from holding regular meetings at its new principal office.

According to the Author

This measure is purely a common-sense change in law to ensure that a local agency can operate efficiently, and maximize local stakeholder access to the headquarters of the Tri Dam Project.

Arguments in Support

The Tri-Dam Project, Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) and South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID) write, "The Tri-Dam Project operates pursuant to a Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement, but it is not a Joint Powers Authority or separate legal entity, and it has no 'jurisdictional boundary' of its own. The Tri-Dam Project is governed by the joint boards of the irrigation districts.

"Under the Irrigation District Law (Division 11 of the California Water Code), all meetings of the board of directors of an irrigation district are to be held pursuant to the Ralph M. Brown Act, which generally requires a legislative body to hold its regular and special meetings within the jurisdictional boundaries of the territory over which it exercises jurisdiction, with several narrowly-tailored exceptions.

"Due to the lack of jurisdictional boundaries of Tri-Dam, and recognizing the need for the ability to hold regular meetings at Tri-Dam's offices, the California Legislature added Section 21377.5, which provides in pertinent part: ' ... the Board of Directors of the Tri-Dam Project. .. may hold no more than four regular meetings annually at the Tri-Dam Project offices located in Strawberry, California' (emphasis added).

"Tri-Dam is in the process of relocating its principal office from Strawberry to Sonora, California. As a result, under the existing provisions of Section 21377.5, Tri-Dam will be precluded from holding regular meetings at its principal office, and will only be allowed to hold special meetings if the topic of the meeting is limited to items directly related to the office building/location itself. The requested amendment to Section 21377.5 would authorize the board of directors to hold those regular meetings at a Tri-Dam Project office that is located in Sonora, California, or Strawberry, California, or within 30 miles of either city."

Arguments in Opposition

None on file.

FISCAL COMMENTS

None.

VOTES:

ASM LOCAL GOVERNMENT: 9-0-0

YES: Juan Carrillo, Waldron, Alanis, Haney, Kalra, Pacheco, Ramos, Ward, Wilson

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 75-0-5

YES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Chen, Connolly, Davies, Dixon, Essayli, Flora, Mike Fong, Vince Fong, Friedman, Gabriel, Garcia, Gipson, Grayson, Haney, Holden, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lackey, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, McCarty, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Jim Patterson, Joe Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Rendon, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Santiago, Schiavo, Soria, Ta, Ting, Valencia, Villapudua, Waldron, Wallis, Ward, Weber, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Zbur, Robert Rivas

ABS, ABST OR NV: Boerner, Megan Dahle, Gallagher, Hart, Mathis

SENATE FLOOR: 32-0-8

YES: Alvarado-Gil, Ashby, Atkins, Blakespear, Bradford, Caballero, Cortese, Dahle, Durazo, Eggman, Grove, Hurtado, Jones, Laird, McGuire, Menjivar, Min, Newman, Nguyen, Niello, Padilla, Portantino, Roth, Rubio, Seyarto, Skinner, Smallwood-Cuevas, Stern, Umberg, Wahab, Wiener, Wilk

ABS, ABST OR NV: Allen, Archuleta, Becker, Dodd, Glazer, Gonzalez, Limón, Ochoa Bogh

UPDATED

VERSION: May 23, 2024

CONSULTANT: Angela Mapp / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958 FN: 0003500

 CONSENT  

Bill No: AB 2748

Author: Flora (R)

Amended: 5/23/24 in Senate

Vote: 21

SENATE LOCAL GOVERNMENT COMMITTEE: 7-0, 5/29/24

AYES: Durazo, Seyarto, Dahle, Glazer, Skinner, Wahab, Wiener

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 75-0, 4/25/24 (Consent) - See last page for vote

SUBJECT: Tri-Dam Project: board of directors: meetings

SOURCE: Author

DIGEST:

This bill allows the Board of Directors of the Tri-Dam Project to hold no more than four regular meetings annually at a Tri-Dam Project office that is located in Sonora, California, or Strawberry, California, or within 30 miles of either city.

ANALYSIS:

Existing law:

1. Allows two or more public agencies to enter an agreement to jointly exercise any power held in common by the parties to the agreement. Each public agency must independently possess the authority to perform the activity that is to be performed jointly pursuant to a joint powers agreement (JPA). Sometimes an agreement creates a new, separate government called a joint powers authority.
2. Provides guidelines, under the Ralph M. Brown Act, for how local agencies must conduct public meetings. Among other provisions, the Act requires meetings of the legislative body of a local agency be open and public, unless otherwise specified.
3. Requires regular and special meetings to be held within the local agency’s boundaries, except in specified circumstances.
4. Provided an exception to the requirement for the Tri-Dam Project to meet within its jurisdictional boundaries, and allowed the Tri-Dam Project Board of Directors to meet up to four times per year at the project office in Strawberry.

This bill:

1. Allows the Board of Directors of the Tri-Dam Project to hold no more than four regular meetings annually at a Tri-Dam Project office that is located in Sonora, California, or Strawberry, California, or within 30 miles of either city.
2. Requires the Tri-Dam Project Board of Directors to adopt a resolution that designates a project office location at a regular meeting.

Background

Tri-Dam Project. In 1955, the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID), headquartered in the city of Oakdale in Stanislaus County, and the South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID), headquartered in the City of Manteca in San Joaquin County, entered into an agreement to operate and maintain a hydroelectric system on the Stanislaus River. Unlike other JPAs, this agreement did not create a separate authority or agency. The agencies’ respective boards of directors govern the JPA. The Tri-Dam Project includes the Donnells, Beardsley, and Tulloch reservoirs, and associated dams, tunnels, and other infrastructure located outside the jurisdictional boundaries of the two JPA member districts. The Tri-Dam Project office is located in the town of Strawberry, an unincorporated community in El Dorado County, which is also outside the jurisdiction of either irrigation district.

Since the Tri-Dam Project JPA is only a joint powers agreement, not a separate agency or authority, it does not have its own jurisdictional boundaries. Under the Brown Act, meetings of such a JPA would have to occur within the boundaries of the JPA’s member agencies. In this case, meetings would have had to be held in Manteca (84 miles from the project office in Strawberry) or Oakdale (64 miles from the project office in Strawberry). Members and staff encountered difficulties transferring documents from the project office to the meeting location. Also, the JPA board wanted to hold meetings at the project office to increase public participation from Strawberry residents and businesses, and allow board members to communicate directly with Tri-Dam Project employees. In response to these concerns, AB 2240 (House, Chapter 83, Statutes of 1998) provided an exception to the requirement for the Tri-Dam Project to meet within its jurisdictional boundaries, and allowed the Tri-Dam Project Board of Directors to meet up to four times per year at the project office in Strawberry.

The Tri-Dam Project is currently building a new headquarters near the City of Sonora in Tuolumne County, and would like to hold some meetings at this location. However, their existing exception does not include this new headquarters location.

Comments

According to the author, “AB 2748 would allow for establishment of the time and place of regular meetings in the same manner as other public agencies under the general provisions of the Brown Act (Gov’t Code Section 54954(a)). Moving forward, this measure would allow the board of directors of the Tri-Dam Project to hold its regular meetings at a Tri-Dam Project office that is located in Sonora, California, or Strawberry, California, or within 30 miles of either city.”

Related/Prior Legislation

The Legislature is considering numerous proposals to amend the Brown Act:

AB 817 (Pacheco, 2024) allows subsidiary bodies of a local agency to teleconference meetings without having to notice and make publicly accessible each teleconference location, or have at least a quorum participate from locations within the boundaries of the agency. The measure is currently pending in the Senate Local Government Committee.

AB 1852 (Pacheco, 2024) extends until January 1, 2030, the existing sunset date on provisions of law authorizing the Clean Power Alliance of Southern California to allow specified alternate members of its legislative body to attend closed sessions of the agency. The measure is currently pending in the Senate Judiciary Committee.

AB 1855 (Arambula, 2024) allows community college student body associations to teleconference meetings without having to notice and make publicly accessible each teleconference location. The measure is currently pending in the Senate Education Committee.

AB 2302 (Addis, 2024) recasts existing limits on the number of times members of a legislative body can participate remotely in meetings for just cause or emergency circumstances. The measure is currently pending in the Senate Local Government Committee.

AB 2350 (Hoover, 2024) allows notifications for emergency meetings required by the Brown Act to be sent via email, instead of given by telephone, for an emergency meeting held by a school board. The measure is currently pending in the Senate Local Government Committee.

AB 2715 (Boerner, 2024) allows the legislative body of a local agency to hold closed sessions pursuant to the Ralph M. Brown Act (Brown Act) on matters pertaining to a threat to cybersecurity. The measure is currently pending in the Senate Local Government Committee.

FISCAL EFFECT: Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: No Local: No

SUPPORT: (Verified 5/29/24)

California Special Districts Association
Oakdale Irrigation District
South San Joaquin Irrigation District
Tri-Dam Project

OPPOSITION: (Verified 5/29/24)

None received

ASSEMBLY FLOOR: 75-0, 4/25/24

AYES: Addis, Aguiar-Curry, Alanis, Alvarez, Arambula, Bains, Bauer-Kahan, Bennett, Berman, Bonta, Bryan, Calderon, Juan Carrillo, Wendy Carrillo, Cervantes, Chen, Connolly, Davies, Dixon, Essayli, Flora, Mike Fong, Vince Fong, Friedman, Gabriel, Garcia, Gipson, Grayson, Haney, Holden, Hoover, Irwin, Jackson, Jones-Sawyer, Kalra, Lackey, Lee, Low, Lowenthal, Maienschein, McCarty, McKinnor, Muratsuchi, Stephanie Nguyen, Ortega, Pacheco, Papan, Jim Patterson, Joe Patterson, Pellerin, Petrie-Norris, Quirk-Silva, Ramos, Rendon, Reyes, Luz Rivas, Rodriguez, Blanca Rubio, Sanchez, Santiago, Schiavo, Soria, Ta, Ting, Valencia, Villapudua, Waldron, Wallis, Ward, Weber, Wicks, Wilson, Wood, Zbur, Robert Rivas

NO VOTE RECORDED: Boerner, Megan Dahle, Gallagher, Hart, Mathis

Prepared by: Jonathan Peterson / L. GOV. / (916) 651-4119

5/30/24 11:44:49

**** END ****

SENATE COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Senator María Elena Durazo, Chair

2023 - 2024 Regular

Tri-Dam Project: board of directors: meetings

Allows the Board of Directors of the Tri-Dam Project to hold no more than four regular meetings annually at a Tri-Dam Project office that is located in Sonora, California, or Strawberry, California, or within 30 miles of either city.

Background

Joint Exercise of Powers. The Joint Exercise of Powers Act allows two or more public agencies to enter an agreement to jointly exercise any power held in common by the parties to the agreement. Each public agency must independently possess the authority to perform the activity that is to be performed jointly pursuant to a joint powers agreement (JPA). Sometimes an agreement creates a new, separate government called a joint powers authority.

Brown Act. The Ralph M. Brown Act provides guidelines for how local agencies must conduct public meetings. Among other provisions, the Act requires meetings of the legislative body of a local agency be open and public. It requires that meetings of the legislative body of a local agency, including a joint powers agency, be open and public, with exceptions authorizing closed sessions for specified purposes. While the public cannot attend closed session, all local agencies are generally required to publicly report any action taken in closed session and the vote or abstention on that action of every member present.

Regular and special meetings must be held within the local agency’s boundaries, except in specified circumstances, including to:

• Comply with state or federal law or court order, or attend a judicial or administrative proceeding to which the local agency is a party;
• Inspect real or personal property which cannot be conveniently brought within the boundaries of the territory over which the local agency exercises jurisdiction;
• Participate in meetings or discussions of multiagency significance that are outside the boundaries of a local agency’s jurisdiction;
• Meet in the closest meeting facility if the local agency has no meeting facility within the boundaries of the territory over which the local agency exercises jurisdiction, or at the principal office of the local agency if that office is located outside the territory over which the agency exercises jurisdiction;
• Meet outside their immediate jurisdiction with elected or appointed officials of the United States or the State of California when a local meeting would be impractical, solely to discuss a legislative or regulatory issue affecting the local agency and over which the federal or state officials have jurisdiction;
• Meet outside their immediate jurisdiction if the meeting takes place in or nearby a facility owned by the agency, provided that the topic of the meeting is limited to items directly related to the facility; and
• Visit the office of the local agency’s legal counsel for a closed session on pending litigation when doing so would reduce legal fees or costs.

Tri-Dam Project. In 1955, the Oakdale Irrigation District (OID), headquartered in the city of Oakdale in Stanislaus County, and the South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID), headquartered in the City of Manteca in San Joaquin County, entered into an agreement to operate and maintain a hydroelectric system on the Stanislaus River. Unlike other JPAs, this agreement did not create a separate authority or agency. The agencies’ respective boards of directors govern the JPA. The Tri-Dam Project includes the Donnells, Beardsley, and Tulloch reservoirs, and associated dams, tunnels, and other infrastructure located outside the jurisdictional boundaries of the two JPA member districts. The Tri-Dam Project office is located in the town of Strawberry, an unincorporated community in El Dorado County, which is also outside the jurisdiction of either irrigation district.

Since the Tri-Dam Project JPA is only a joint powers agreement, not a separate agency or authority, it does not have its own jurisdictional boundaries. Under the Brown Act, meetings of such a JPA would have to occur within the boundaries of the JPA’s member agencies. In this case, meetings would have had to be held in Manteca (84 miles from the project office in Strawberry) or Oakdale (64 miles from the project office in Strawberry). Members and staff encountered difficulties transferring documents from the project office to the meeting location. Also, the JPA board wanted to hold meetings at the project office to increase public participation from Strawberry residents and businesses, and allow board members to communicate directly with Tri-Dam Project employees. In response to these concerns, AB 2240 (House, 1998) provided an exception to the requirement for the Tri-Dam Project to meet within its jurisdictional boundaries, and allowed the Tri-Dam Project Board of Directors to meet up to four times per year at the project office in Strawberry.

The Tri-Dam Project is currently building a new headquarters near the City of Sonora in Tuolumne County, and would like to hold some meetings at this location. However, their existing exception does not include this new headquarters location. OID and SSJID want to hold meetings at their new headquarters.

Proposed Law

Assembly Bill 2748 allows the Board of Directors of the Tri-Dam Project to hold no more than four regular meetings annually at a Tri-Dam Project office that is located in Sonora, California, or Strawberry, California, or within 30 miles of either city. Additionally, the Tri-Dam Project Board of Directors must adopt a resolution that designates a project office location at a regular meeting.

Comments

1. Purpose of the bill. According to the author, “AB 2748 would allow for establishment of the time and place of regular meetings in the same manner as other public agencies under the general provisions of the Brown Act (Gov’t Code Section 54954(a)). Moving forward, this measure would allow the board of directors of the Tri-Dam Project to hold its regular meetings at a Tri-Dam Project office that is located in Sonora, California, or Strawberry, California, or within 30 miles of either city.”

2. Parade isn’t over. The Legislature is considering numerous proposals to amend the Brown Act:

• AB 817 (Pacheco) allows subsidiary bodies of a local agency to teleconference meetings without having to notice and make publicly accessible each teleconference location, or have at least a quorum participate from locations within the boundaries of the agency. The measure is currently pending in this Committee.
• AB 1852 (Pacheco) extends, until January 1, 2030, the existing sunset date on provisions of law authorizing the Clean Power Alliance of Southern California to allow specified alternate members of its legislative body to attend closed sessions of the agency. The measure is also scheduled for the Committee’s May 29^th meeting.
• AB 1855 (Arambula) allows community college student body associations to teleconference meetings without having to notice and make publicly accessible each teleconference location. The measure is also scheduled for the Committee’s May 29^th meeting.
• AB 2302 (Addis) clarifies the number of meetings that a member of a legislative body may attend remotely pursuant to the Ralph M. Brown Act's teleconferencing requirements, as modified by AB 2449 (Blanca Rubio, 2022). The measure is currently pending in this Committee.
• AB 2350 (Hoover) allows notifications for emergency meetings required by the Ralph M. Brown Act (Brown Act) to be sent via email, instead of given by telephone, for an emergency meeting held by a school board. The measure is currently awaiting referral in the Senate Rules Committee.
• AB 2715 (Boerner) allows the legislative body of a local agency to hold closed sessions pursuant to the Ralph M. Brown Act (Brown Act) on matters pertaining to a threat to cybersecurity. The measure is currently awaiting referral in the Senate Rules Committee.

Assembly Actions

Assembly Local Government Committee: 9-0
Assembly Floor: 75-0

Support and Opposition

(5/24/24)

Support: California Special Districts Association
Oakdale Irrigation District
South San Joaquin Irrigation District
Tri-Dam Project

Opposition: None received.

-- END --

Date of Hearing: April 17, 2024

ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON LOCAL GOVERNMENT

Juan Carrillo, Chair

ABPCA Bill Id:AB 2748 (

Author:Flora) – As Amended Ver:April 3, 2024

SUBJECT: Tri-Dam Project: board of directors: meetings.

SUMMARY: Allows the Board of Directors of the Tri-Dam Project to hold no more than four regular meetings annually at a Tri-Dam Project office that is located in Sonora, California, or Strawberry, California, or within 30 miles of either city.

FISCAL EFFECT: None

COMMENTS:

1. Bill Summary and Author’s Statement. This bill allows the Board of Directors of the Tri-Dam Project to hold no more than four regular meetings annually at a Tri-Dam Project office that is located in Sonora, California, or Strawberry, California, or within 30 miles of either city. This bill is sponsored by the South San Joaquin Irrigation District.

According to the author, “This measure is purely a common-sense change in law to ensure that a local agency can operate efficiently, and maximize local stakeholder access to the headquarters of the Tri Dam Project.”

1. Background. The Tri-Dam Project is a partnership between the Oakdale Irrigation District and the South San Joaquin Irrigation District, formed via a Joint Powers Agreement (JPA) for the purposes of operating and maintaining a hydroelectric system on the Stanislaus River. The JPA’s governing board is composed of the members of the boards of directors of the Oakdale Irrigation District, located in Oakdale (Stanislaus County) and the South San Joaquin Irrigation District, located in Manteca (San Joaquin County). The Tri-Dam Project includes the Donnells, Beardsley, and Tulloch reservoirs, and associated dams, tunnels, and other infrastructure that are located outside the jurisdictional boundaries of the two JPA member districts. The Tri-Dam Project office is located in the small town of Strawberry (El Dorado County), which is also outside the jurisdiction of either irrigation district.

The Brown Act generally requires a JPA to meet within its boundaries. However, the Tri-Dam Project JPA is only a joint powers agreement. It is not a separate agency or authority. As such, it has no jurisdictional boundaries of its own. Under normal circumstances, the governing board members of the Project would be required to meet within the boundaries of the JPAs member agencies – in this case, the boundaries of the two irrigation districts.

AB 2240 (House), Chapter 83, Statutes of 1998, provided an exception to this rule for the Tri-Dam board of directors after concerns were raised about several issues. Members and staff were encountering difficulties in transferring documents from the Project facility to Manteca or Oakdale for each monthly meeting. In addition, the JPA board wanted to hold meetings at the Tri-Dam facility to increase public participation from Strawberry residents and businesses, and to allow board members to communicate directly with the Project's employees. AB 2240 allowed the Tri-Dam Project Board of directors to meet up to four times per year at the Project office in Strawberry.

According to the author’s office, the Tri-Dam Project is in the process of relocating its principal office from Strawberry to Sonora, California, which is also outside the jurisdictional boundaries of the JPA member agencies. As a result, absent a change to law, Tri-Dam will be precluded from holding regular meetings at its new principal office.

1. Arguments in Support. The Tri-Dam Project, Oakdale Irrigation District (OID) and South San Joaquin Irrigation District (SSJID) write, “The Tri-Dam Project operates pursuant to a Joint Exercise of Powers Agreement, but it is not a Joint Powers Authority or separate legal entity, and it has no ‘jurisdictional boundary’ of its own. The Tri-Dam Project is governed by the joint boards of the irrigation districts.

“Under the Irrigation District Law (Division 11 of the California Water Code), all meetings of the board of directors of an irrigation district are to be held pursuant to the Ralph M. Brown Act, which generally requires a legislative body to hold its regular and special meetings within the jurisdictional boundaries of the territory over which it exercises jurisdiction, with several narrowly-tailored exceptions.

“Due to the lack of jurisdictional boundaries of Tri-Dam, and recognizing the need for the ability to hold regular meetings at Tri-Dam's offices, the California Legislature added §21377.5, which provides in pertinent part: ‘ ... the Board of Directors of the Tri-Dam Project. .. may hold no more than four regular meetings annually at the Tri-Dam Project offices located in Strawberry, California’ (emphasis added).

“Tri-Dam is in the process of relocating its principal office from Strawberry to Sonora, California. As a result, under the existing provisions of §21377.5, Tri-Dam will be precluded from holding regular meetings at its principal office, and will only be allowed to hold special meetings if the topic of the meeting is limited to items directly related to the office building/location itself. The requested amendment to §21377.5 would authorize the board of directors to hold those regular meetings at a Tri-Dam Project office that is located in Sonora, California, or Strawberry, California, or within 30 miles of either city.”

1. Arguments in Opposition. None on file.

REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:

Support

South San Joaquin Irrigation District [SPONSOR]

California Special Districts Association

Oakdale Irrigation District

Tri-Dam Project

Opposition

None on file

Analysis Prepared by: Angela Mapp / L. GOV. / (916) 319-3958