IID facing another legislative attempt to restructure board
IMPERIAL — The Imperial Irrigation District is pushing back against yet another a bill being by independent Assemblymember Chad Mayes that would increase the number of members its board of directors.
Assembly Bill 1021 would require the number of IID directors to increase from five to eight, with the three additional members having no vote and residing in Riverside County.
The non- voting members would have all of the other rights as existing directors and must meet certain qualifications.
The bill would require the three non-voting members to be appointed by the county supervisor who represents the fourth district of the Riverside County Board of Supervisors.
The bill would make legislative findings and declarations as to the necessity of a special statute for the IID.
It would also stipulates that the California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the state. In other words, the bill would provide that if the Commission on State Mandates determines that the bill contains costs mandated by the state, reimbursement for those costs must be made pursuant to the statutory provisions.
The three non- voting members would consist of one director to be a representative of local cities and be an elected member of city government.
The second would be a representative from Riverside County and the third additional member would be from the environmental justice community who resides in Riverside County.
IID Director JB Hamby said he wonders how the three additional members would feel since, while they would be able to attend all the meetings and be involved in discussions, they would not have a vote, saying he would feel worse under this scenario.
In 2019 Mayes sponsored AB 854 which would have added six Riverside County members with voting rights to the IID board. The bill never materialized into law.
“It’s a watered- down bill, but the intent is (the same),” Hamby said, adding IID will not allow itself to be undermined by this legislation.
He said AB 1021 would pave the path for future representation on the IID board from Riverside County.
Hamby said if the bill becomes law it would be the first change since IID was formed in 1911.
“The bill does not solve problems.” he said. “It creates problems that were not there.”
AB 1021 would also require the commissions for the County of Imperial and the County of Riverside to conduct and publish on their websites by Dec. 1, 2022, a joint study of voting rights and options for providing electricity in the IID.
The joint study would include a description of voting rights in the district and a determination of whether and how the district can extend voting rights to its residents.