Chapter 5. Contracts of California Water Code >> Division 20. >> Part 5. >> Chapter 5.
As used in this article:
(a) "Public agency" means and includes the United States or any
department or agency thereof, the State or any department or agency
thereof, and a county, city, public corporation, or public district
of the State.
(b) "Private corporation" means and includes any private
corporation organized under the laws of the United States or of this
or any other state thereof.
Contracts mentioned in this article include those made with
the United States under the Federal Reclamation Act of June 17, 1902,
and all acts amendatory thereof or supplementary thereto, or any
other act of Congress heretofore or hereafter enacted permitting
co-operation.
A district may join with one or more public agencies,
private corporations, or other persons for the purpose of carrying
out any of the powers of the district, and for that purpose may
contract with such other public agencies, private corporations, or
persons to finance acquisitions, constructions and operations.
The contracts with other public agencies, private
corporations, or persons may provide for contributions to be made by
each party thereto, for the division and apportionment of the
expenses of the acquisitions and operations, and for the division and
apportionment of the benefits, the services, and products therefrom.
Such contracts may also provide for an agency to effect the
acquisitions and to carry on the operations, and shall provide in the
powers and methods of procedure for such agency the method by which
the agency may contract. Such contracts may contain such other and
further covenants and agreements as may be necessary or convenient to
accomplish the purposes thereof.
Any such contract with the United States or any department
or agency thereof, or with any private corporation organized under
the laws of the United States, by which the district or an
improvement district thereof incurs an indebtedness or liability
exceeding in any year the income and revenue for such year, shall not
be executed without the assent of a majority of the qualified
electors of the district or the improvement district voting at an
election to be held for that purpose. Such election shall be called
and held, so far as practicable, in the same manner as bond elections
for the district or an improvement district.
The exact final form of a proposed contract required to be
approved by the voters of the district or an improvement district
need not be available at the time of the special election, but the
purpose of the contract, the maximum amount of the indebtedness
created thereby, the maximum term of repayment, and the maximum
interest rate on such indebtedness shall be known and included in the
proposition or measure submitted to the voters of the district or
the improvement district at the special election.
Any proposed contract approved by the voters of the Rainbow
Municipal Water District, as provided in this article, at a special
election held prior to January 1, 1978, shall be an approved contract
notwithstanding that the maximum interest rate on such indebtedness
was not known at the time of the special election and was not
included in the proposition submitted to the voters of the district
at the special election.
The provisions of this section are necessary because of special
circumstances within the Rainbow Municipal Water District. A special
election was held in the Rainbow Municipal Water District at which
there was submitted to the voters of the district the proposition to
approve a contract with the United States for a loan for the
acquisition and construction of water facilities. At the time the
proposed contract was submitted to the voters of the district the
maximum interest rate on the indebtedness was not known and was not
included in the proposition, although the voters were informed of the
approximate rate of interest on the indebtedness. The proposed
contract was approved by the voters and the district must enter into
the contract in order to provide needed water to the inhabitants of
the district. It is therefore hereby declared that a general law
cannot be made applicable and that the enactment of this section as a
special law is necessary for the solution of problems existing in
the Rainbow Municipal Water District.