§ 4. Repealed. All acts or parts of acts in conflict with any of the provisions of this act are hereby repealed.

ACT 3869.

An act to validate the formation of certain districts formed under the provisions of an act entitled "An act to provide for the formation, management and dissolution of county irrigation districts; for supplying the inhabitants thereof with water; for levying and collecting taxes on property in such districts; and for the issuance of county irrigation district bonds and the payment thereof," approved June 13, 1913, and to validate the issuance and sale of certain bonds thereof.

[Approved April 10, 1915. Stats. 1915, p. 48.] See next act.

§ 1. County irrigation districts validated.

§ 1. County irrigation districts validated. In any district, organized, or attempted to be organized, under the provisions of an act entitled, "An act to provide for the formation, management and dissolution of county irrigation districts; for supplying the inhabitants thereof with water; for levying and collecting taxes on property in such districts; and for the issuance of county irrigation district bonds and the payment thereof," approved June 13, 1913, or as the same may have been or shall be amended at the time this act becomes effective, where acts or proceedings have been taken for the purpose of the formation of such a district, and of authorizing the issuance and sale of bonds; and where the formation of such district and the authorization of such issue and sale of bonds shall have been approved by a majority vote of the qualified electors of such district voting upon the question of the formation of such district and the authorization of the issuance and sale of such bonds, all such acts and proceedings leading up to and including the formation of any such district and the authorization of the issuance and sale of any such bonds, are hereby legalized, ratified, confirmed, and declared validated to all intents and purposes, and the power of any such district and of the proper officers to issue and sell such bonds is hereby ratified, confirmed, and declared, and any such bonds already sold at not less than their par value are declared to be, and any such bonds hereafter sold at not less than their par value shall be, a legal and binding obligation of and against such district, having heretofore authorized the issuance and sale of such bonds, and the faith and credit of any such district is hereby pledged for the prompt payment and redemption of the principal and interest of said bonds of such district, in the manner provided in said act, or as the same may be amended.

ACT 3870.

An act to provide for the formation, management and dissolution of county power pumping districts; for supplying the land owners and inhabitants thereof with water and with the power necessary to pump the same; for the levy and collection of taxes on property in such districts; and for the issuance of county power pumping district bonds and for the payment thereof.

[Approved June 11, 1915. Stats. 1915, p. 1483.]

§ 3.

Map.

Petition for formation. Description of improvement. Estimate of cost. Election.

§ 4. Time for hearing.

Objection to formation. Jurisdiction acquired.
Special election.

Denominations, interest and condition of bonds.

§ 5.

§ 6.

§ 7.

Election procedure.

Tax for maintenance, etc.

§ 12.

Sale of bonds.

Tax levy.

Power of supervisors.

§ 13. Dissolution of district. Special election.

§14. This act an alternative method.

§ 15. Liberally construed.

§ 1. Name of act. This act shall be known and referred to as the "county power pumping district act."

§ 2. Land may be formed into district. Any area of land within this state, wholly within one county and outside of incorporated cities and towns, or containing the whole or any portion of one or more incorporated cities or towns and contiguous unincorporated territory, and not already included within any irrigation district, in need of artificial irrigation and not already supplied with adequate facilities therefor and possessed of an available supply of subsurface water, may be formed into a power pumping district and provisions made for obtaining power and pumping the waters necessary for the irrigation of such lands in the manner and under the proceedings hereinafter prescribed.

Estimate

§ 3. Petition for formation. Description of improvement. of cost. Election. Map. A petition for the formation of such district may be presented to the board of supervisors of the county in which the proposed district is located, which petition shall be signed by not less than fifty per cent of the land owners within said district. The term "land owners," as herein used, shall include all freeholders and holders of possessory rights under any law of the United States or of the state of California.

The said petition shall contain:

(1) The name and boundaries of the proposed district;

(2) The source from which the lands therein are proposed to be irrigated;

(3) A general description of the improvement or improvements proposed for the purpose of supplying the district with water, and which improvement or improvements may embrace any or all of the following: (a) The construction, acquisition, operation and maintenance of electric or other power plants, together with all necessary transmission and distributing lines and equipment therefor; (b) the construction, acquisition, operation and maintenance of electrical transmission and distributing lines and equipment for the purpose of transmitting power to all points within such district, and the acquisition of electrical or other power by contract, rental or otherwise, from such plant or plants within said district; (c) the acquisition of power for such district by contract

therefor, as provided in subdivisions 5 and 6 of section 12 hereof; (d) the acquisition, construction, installation, completion, extension, repair or maintenance of all plants, works, structures and appurtenances; (e) the acquisition, by purchase, condemnation, contract, lease or otherwise, of lands, rights of way, water, water rights and electric and water service necessary or convenient for such purpose; (f) the drilling, sinking and construction of wells for the development of subsurface waters, and the installation of pumps and motors and all appliances necessary or convenient in connection therewith;

(4) An estimate of the cost of the proposed improvement or improvements, including all incidental expenses in connection therewith;

(5) A request that an election be called in the proposed district for the purpose of submitting to the qualified electors thereof the proposi tion of forming such district and incurring indebtedness, by the issuance of the bonds of such district, to pay the costs and expenses of the proposed improvement or improvements.

There must be filed with such petition: (a) A map showing the exterior boundaries of the proposed district, with relation to the territory immediately contiguous thereto, and plans and specifications of the proposed improvement; (b) a good and sufficient undertaking, to be approved by the board of supervisors, in double the amount of the probable cost of forming such district, conditioned that the sureties shall pay said cost in case the formation of such district shall not be effected.

§ 4. Time for hearing. Such petition, together with the map and undertaking herein above described, must be presented at a regular meeting of said board of supervisors, and the board shall thereupon fix a time for hearing the same and protests of interested parties, not less than twenty-one nor more than thirty days after the date of presentation thereof. The clerk of the board shall thereupon cause notices of the filing and hearing of such petition to be posted in three of the most public places in the proposed district. Such notices shall be headed "notice of the formation of [here insert name] county power pumping district No. [here insert number of district]," in letters not less than one inch in length, and shall in legible characters state the fact and date of the filing of such petition, the day and hour set for hearing the same and the protests, briefly describe the proposed improvement or improvements, specify the exterior boundaries of the district, and refer to the said petition, map and plans and specifications for further particulars. The said clerk shall also cause a notice similar in substance to be published at least once a week for two consecutive weeks in a newspaper, designated by said board of supervisors, of general circulation printed and published in the county in which the proposed district is located. Said notices must be published and posted as above provided, at least ten days before the date set for the hearing of said petition.

§ 5. Objection to formation. Jurisdiction acquired. Any person objecting to the formation of the proposed district or the extent thereof, or the improvement or improvements proposed, or to the inclusion of his property in such district, may file a written protest with the clerk of said board at or before the time set for the hearing of such petition. The clerk of said board shall indorse on each protest the date of its

reception by him, and at the time appointed for the hearing above provided for, shall present to said board all protests so filed with him. The said board shall hear said petition and protests at the time appointed or at any time to which the hearing thereof may be adjourned, and pass upon the same, and its decision thereon shall be final and conclusive. If any protest or protests against the formation of the proposed district or against the proposed improvements as a whole, be sustained, no further proceedings shall be had or taken pursuant to said petition, but a new petition for the same or a similar purpose may be filed at any time. If any protests be filed as against the extent of the proposed district, or against the inclusion therein of any specified property, the board shall have power to make such changes in the boundaries of the proposed district as it shall find to be proper and advisable, and shall define and establish such boundaries, and may upon written application of the owner thereof, at the same time include therein the lands of any contiguous land owner suitable for the purposes of the proposed district.

At the expiration of the time within which protests may be filed, if none be filed, or if protests be filed and after hearing be denied, said board shall be deemed to have acquired jurisdiction to further proceed in accordance with the provisions of this act. The determination of the board of supervisors as to whether the area of land embraced within such district is possessed of an available supply of subsurface water, and as to whether said petition has been signed by the requisite number of land owners within said district, and as to whether all the requirements of section 3 of this act have been fully complied with, together with all its determinations upon questions of fact shall be final and conclusive.

§ 6. Special election. The board of supervisors shall, by ordinance or resolution adopted at a regular or special meeting after having acquired jurisdiction to proceed, as above provided, provide for and order the holding of a special election in the proposed district and the submission to the qualified voters thereof of the proposition to form such district and incur an indebtedness, by the issuance of bonds thereof, for the purposes set forth in said petition. The ordinance or resolution calling such special election shall also recite the objects and purposes for which the proposed indebtedness is to be incurred, the estimated cost of the proposed improvement or improvements, the amount of the principal of the indebtedness to be incurred therefor, and the rate of interest to be paid upon such indebtedness, and shall fix the date at which such election shall be held, the manner of holding the same, and the manner of voting for or against the proposition. The maximum rate of interest to be paid on such indebtedness shall be eight per cent per annum, payable semi-annually. Prior to calling such election the board of supervisors must cause such investigation to be made as shall be necessary to establish the fact that the proposed works can be constructed within the limits of the proposed bonded indebteduess and that there is available a sufficient supply of water.

§ 7. Election procedure. For the purposes of said election the board of supervisors shall, in such ordinance or resolution, establish one or more precincts within the boun laries of the proposed district, designate a polling place in each precinct and appoint such officers of election as

said board shall deem necessary. In all particulars not recited in such ordinance or resolution, such election shall be held as provided by law for the holding of general elections in such county. Said ordinance or resolution ordering the holding of such election shall, prior to the date set for such election, be published five times in a daily or twice in a weekly or semi-weekly newspaper of general circulation printed and published in said county and designated by the board of supervisors for that purpose. No other notice of such election need be given. If ar such election two-thirds of the votes cast are in favor of the formation of the proposed district and incurring of the proposed bonded indebtedness, then the board of supervisors shall enter an order to that effect upon its minutes, declaring said district formed, and the said board of supervisors shall thereupon be authorized and empowered to issue, and shall issue the bonds of said district for the amount provided for in said proceedings, payable out of the funds of such district to be provided as in this act prescribed; provided, however, that the entire bonded indebtedness of any district formed under the provisions of this act, as represented by the par value of bonds issued and to be issued and outstanding hereunder at any time, shall not exceed an amount greater than two dollars per acre for each acre of land contained in said district, subject to the provisions of this act; provided, however, that in the event that the proposed improvement or improvements shall embrace the drilling, sinking and construction of wells for the development of subsurface waters and the installation of pumps and motors and all appliances necessary or convenient in connection therewith, then the entire bonded indebtedness of such district so formed as represented by the par value of bonds issued and outstanding hereunder at any time may equal, but shall not exceed, an amount greater than ten dollars ($10) per acre for each acre of land contained within said district.

§ 8. Denominations, interest and condition of bonds. The board of supervisors, by an order entered upon its minutes, shall, subject to the provisions of this act, prescribe the denominations, interest and condition of said bonds and of the interest coupons attached thereto. Said bonds may contain appropriate provisions for their redemption prior to the maturity thereof. Said bonds shall be signed by the chairman of the board of supervisors, countersigned by the county auditor, and the seal of said county shall be affixed thereto. The interest coupons on said bonds shall be numbered consecutively and signed by the auditor of said county by his engraved or lithographed signature. In case any such officer whose signature or counter-signature appears on such bonds or coupons shall cease to be such officer before the delivery of such bonds to the purchaser, such signature or countersignature shall, nevertheless, be valid and sufficient for all purposes in like manner as though such officer had remained in office until the delivery of the bonds.

§ 9. Sale of bonds. The board of supervisors may issue and sell the bonds of such district, authorized as hereinabove provided, at a price not less than the par value thereof, and the proceeds of sale of such bonds shall be placed in the county treasury to the credit of the proper district fund, and shall be applied to the purposes and objects mentioned in the ordinance or resolution ordering the holding of such bond election, as aforesaid.