Chapter 3. Resettlement Of Street, Suburban, And Interurban Railroad Franchises of California Public Utilities Code >> Division 3. >> Chapter 3.

The governing or legislative body of any city or city and county having on July 27, 1917, a freeholders' charter adopted under Section 8 of Article XI of the State Constitution, which charter provides for the resettlement of and the granting of a resettlement franchise to any person, firm, or corporation engaged in operating a public utility in such city or city and county, is empowered to provide for a general resettlement of the franchise rights and to grant a resettlement franchise to any person, firm, or corporation actually engaged in operating a street, suburban, or interurban railroad in the city or city and county, upon written application therefor, and upon such terms and conditions as are in this chapter provided, and may, in the resettlement of any such franchise impose other and additional terms and conditions not in conflict with this chapter.

The resettlement franchise shall be granted after such publication and upon such notice as the governing or legislative body shall by resolution determine, or failing such determination, after such publication and upon such notice as is prescribed by law for the enactment of ordinances by the governing or legislative body.

After the final passage of a resettlement franchise, it shall be referred and submitted to the vote of the electors of the city or city and county at the general or special election next ensuing not less than 20 days after the final passage of the ordinance, or if no general or special election is to be held in the city or city and county within a period of not less than 20 days and not more than 90 days after such final passage, the governing or legislative body may call a special election to submit the ordinance to the electors, the special election to be held not less than 30 days and not more than 60 days after such final passage.

No resettlement franchise shall go into effect until it has received the approval of a majority of the electors voting thereon and until it has been accepted in writing by the grantee.

Every resettlement franchise, permit, or privilege shall confer upon the grantee the right to occupy the roads, streets, highways, avenues, boulevards, lanes, alleys, courts, places, and pathways of the city or city and county, particularly set out in the terms and conditions of the franchise, permit, or privilege, for the purpose of conducting, operating and maintaining thereon a street, suburban, or interurban railroad, subject always to the right of the city or city and county to acquire and possess the property of the grantee.

The grantee shall pay to the city or city and county such a percentage of the net revenue annually collected from any and all sources under and by virtue of the franchise, permit, or privilege as is fixed in the franchise. What constitutes such annual net revenue shall be provided in the franchise.

The legislative or governing body may in a resettlement franchise provide that any new franchise granted to the holder of the resettlement franchise shall be considered as part of the resettlement franchise.

The legislative or governing body may in the resettlement franchise provide that in case of consolidation or annexation to the city or city and county of any territory after the date the resettlement franchise is granted, any franchise to operate the street, suburban, or interurban railroad, or any part thereof, held or claimed by the holder of the resettlement franchise in or for any portion of the consolidated or annexed territory shall thereupon be surrendered to the city or city and county, and that the rights and obligations of the resettlement franchise shall thereupon automatically extend to the additional territory, and that a valuation for the purpose of public acquisition of the properties used and useful, or, in the discretion of the city or city and county, prospectively useful, in the operation of the street, suburban, or interurban railroad in the area consolidated or annexed, and not included in the capital valuation already fixed in the resettlement franchise, shall be added to the capital account of the resettlement franchise grantee at a valuation for the purpose of public acquisition fixed by the Public Utilities Commission, and otherwise determined as provided in this chapter.

Every resettlement franchise shall provide that the grantee shall surrender the franchises or rights, owned or claimed by the grantee, to occupy such portion of the roads, streets, highways, avenues, boulevards, lanes, alleys, courts, places, and pathways as it is proposed that the street, suburban, or interurban railroad shall thereafter occupy under the provisions of the resettlement franchise, and that the grantee shall accept in lieu thereof the rights and privileges granted by the resettlement franchise as a franchise for the continued operation of the street, suburban, or interurban railroad within the limits of the city or city and county or such portion thereof as had theretofore been operated under the franchise or franchises surrendered.

The resettlement franchise, permit, or privilege shall be granted for an indeterminate period, subject always to the right of the city or city and county to acquire and possess the property of the grantee.

The resettlement franchise shall be granted upon the express condition that the city or city and county may, at a valuation for the purpose of public acquisition, fixed and determined as provided in Section 6462, assume ownership by purchase, or take over and possess the property used and useful, or, in the discretion of the city or city and county, prospectively useful property of the franchise grantee, its successors or assigns, upon giving the grantee written notice of its intention to purchase and take over the property, which notice shall be given only when authorized by ordinance of the legislative or governing body of the city or city and county.

The valuation for the purpose of public acquisition of property used and useful, or in the discretion of the city or city and county prospectively useful, and owned by the grantee at the time application is made for a resettlement franchise, permit, or privilege shall be fixed by the Public Utilities Commission. The valuation of such property as fixed by the commission may be set forth in the resettlement franchise, permit, or privilege, in which case a readjustment from time to time of this valuation by the addition of the cost of extensions and betterments and by the deduction of the value of property sold or abandoned, and of the amount of depreciation sustained by the property used or useful or prospectively useful, shall be made in such manner as may in the resettlement franchise be provided.

All expenses of the valuation by the Public Utilities Commission shall be paid by the city or city and county to the commission.

The resettlement franchise shall provide that the grantee, its successors or assigns, shall never claim before any court or other public authority in any proceeding of any character any value for the resettlement franchise, permit, or privilege in excess of the amount originally paid for it by the grantee to the granting authority.

The resettlement franchise may be amended from time to time by ordinance passed by the governing or legislative body of the city or city and county and ratified by the electors of the city or city and county in the manner prescribed for the passage of the resettlement franchise in the first instance, and not otherwise. No such amendment is effective unless accepted in writing by the grantee of the resettlement franchise.

The power of the State, in the exercise of its police power or otherwise through the instrumentality of the Public Utilities Commission or other agency, to provide at any and all times for the supervision and regulation of public utilities is not affected by any franchise, permit, or privilege granted under this chapter.

Nothing in this chapter, nor any provision of any franchise granted under this chapter, shall prevent a city or city and county from acquiring at any time the property of any public utility through the exercise of the right of eminent domain, and no city or county shall contract away, either for a term or in perpetuity, the right of eminent domain in respect to any public utility.