Article 5. Allowances To Water Districts For Severance Aid of California Streets And Highways Code >> Division 1. >> Chapter 4. >> Article 5.

For purposes of this article, the term "public water district" means any special district, as defined in subdivision (m) of Section 54775 of the Government Code, which has, among its powers, the power to store, control, or distribute water.

Whenever real property within a public water district is acquired for state highway purposes on or after the effective date of this section, the director shall calculate an amount of severance aid as provided in this section, in addition to any other allowances provided by law to be paid to the district. For the five-year period following the acquisition of such property, based on the amount of tax revenues the district would have received from such property if there had been no such acquisition, the director shall calculate the district's severance aid as follows: for the year following such acquisition, the district shall be allowed the amount of tax revenues that would have been paid during the year of acquisition, if the taxes assessed on the property acquired were then paid in full; for the second year, the district shall be allowed 80 percent of such amount; for the third year, the district shall be allowed 60 percent of such amount; for the fourth year, the district shall be allowed 40 percent of such amount; and for the fifth year, the district shall be allowed 20 percent of such amount.

On or before April 20th of each year, the director shall determine and certify to the State Controller the amount of severance aid computed and to be allowed to water districts under Section 831 for the fiscal year. On or before May 15th of each year, the State Controller shall allocate from the Motor Vehicle Transportation Tax Fund the amount of severance aid computed and to be allowed to water districts for the current fiscal year as so certified. The Department may charge or allocate the amounts so transferred to the appropriate particular projects on account of which the severance aid was computed.

(a) No money shall be allocated to any water district for any fiscal year pursuant to this article, unless the Legislature approves such allocation for that fiscal year pursuant to this section by appropriating the money from the Motor Vehicle Transportation Tax Fund for such purpose.
  (b) In case the amount of money appropriated by the Legislature for purposes of this article during any fiscal year is insufficient to pay the amounts provided for in Section 831, the amounts provided for in that section shall be reduced proportionately.

No allowance of severance aid shall be made as provided in Section 831 unless the total assessed value of taxable real property within the water district is reduced by 2 percent or more during a fiscal year by reason of acquisitions giving rise to severance aid as provided in Section 831. In determining whether or not the value of such acquisitions is equal to 2 percent or more of the value of taxable real property, all such acquisitions made during each fiscal year shall be considered as one sum.