In 1951 California passed the District Organization Law. The law created a procedure for the organization, operation, and government of districts in the state of California. This applies when and to the extent that it’s adopted or incorporated by reference in a law providing for a particular district or type of district in the state of California. A notice is required to be published once a week for three successive and proof of publication is required. It can be done by affidavit of the owner, publisher, printer or clerk of the newspaper.

Article Two deals with petitions and the formation proceedings. The proceedings begin when a petition is filed with the supervising authority. In Section 58,034, there are five requirements for the petition to meet. Article Three deals with preliminary hearings. This includes the requirement that the supervising authority must fix a time and place for hearings.

Article Four describes the final hearing. The law requires the supervising authority to specify the time and place for the final hearing on the petition. At the hearing any owner of land in the proposed district may present to the supervising authority a written request for exclusion of all or part of the land. The law requires the clerk publish notice of inclusion to the address of the owner of the land as shown on the county assessment rule.

Article Five involves the formation of districts. The law requires the supervising authority to call and give notice of an election within 20 days after adopting the resolution for the proposed district. The clerk is required to file a certified copy of the resolution with California’s Secretary of State. The organization of the district is complete once the clerk provides a certified copy of the resolution to the Secretary of State.

You can find the full transcript of the audio in today’s podcast here.