Practice Areas > Water Agency Law
Local Government
- Open Meetings and Public Records Law
- Public Officials Ethics Laws
- Interagency Relations
- LAFCO
- Joint Powers Authorities
- Governing Body Protocols
Water Companies
Legislation
Local Government
In California, community drinking water is commonly provided by local governmental agencies subject to a wide variety of laws that affect the way they interact with the public, the way they make decisions, and in general the way they govern. Water is always a matter of great public interest, and the laws that regulate the operation of water agencies get particular attention from the public. MKB attorneys deal with issues involving local governance and operations on a daily basis. We currently serve as general counsel to five busy water agencies in Orange, Riverside and Los Angeles Counties, and in this capacity we provide advice and counsel to the governing boards and staff concerning a variety of administrative and transactional matters.
Open Meetings and Public Records Law
California law mandates that water agencies comply with public transparency laws applicable to the operation of meetings and the maintenance of public records. MKB frequently advises its public agency clients on state laws related to the conduct of public meetings and state and federal laws related to the maintenance and disclosure of public records. In particular, MKB attorneys regularly address issues that arise under the Ralph M. Brown Act, which dictates to a large extent how members of governing boards communicate with each other and the public. An in-depth understanding of the Brown Act and how it has been interpreted is critical to the role of general counsel. We assist our clients in fully understanding the extent of their rights and obligations under the Brown Act so as to avoid both legal and public relations pitfalls that can be the result of a misunderstanding. The same is true of California’s Public Records Act and the federal Freedom of Information Act. Our experience with these laws allows us to advise our public agency clients regarding full compliance while protecting them from unnecessary expense and improper requests.
California has a variety of laws and regulations designed to ensure honest, fully accountable public officials. These include the Political Reform Act, Government Code section 1090 related to government contracts, the AB 1234 requirement for ethics training, laws prohibiting incompatible public offices, and many others. MKB works with public agency clients in developing and updating their conflict of interest codes and regularly advises agencies on specific conflict of interest issues under the Political Reform Act and Government Code section 1090. MKB provides seminars to our clients’ elected boards and staff on the Brown Act, the Public Records Act, public finance, and conflicts of interest.
For a multitude of reasons, public water agencies frequently need to interact with other public agencies. Whether it is because cooperation is required to complete a project or collaboration is required to undertake a project, inevitably agencies will need to interact with other agencies and these interactions are often critical to the success of a project. MKB works with clients to identify the need for such interactions, to schedule and prepare for them, and to engage in them with the appropriate amount of finesse or force needed to succeed. On behalf of its clients, MKB deals knowledgeably and practically with governing bodies and their staffs to get projects done in a timely fashion.
Local Agency Formation Commissions play an increasingly active role in all aspects of local government throughout California, and they can involve themselves in water agency activities that range from the most fundamental governance issues to water policy making and drought planning. Further, LAFCOs are required by statute to complete a Sphere of Influence study for each local agency every five years and to coordinate the study with a Municipal Service Review. MKB counsels water agencies on a large number of issues related to LAFCOs, including annexations, reorganizations, MSR/SOI procedures, dissolutions, consolidations and others. LAFCO powers and procedures often inhabit a gray area of the law and can be interpreted in different ways by different LAFCO staff. MKB provides its clients with both the legal knowledge and the political acumen to deal with all manner of LAFCO anomalies.
Formation of a joint powers authority under California’s Joint Exercise of Powers Act is a valuable option that allows public water agencies to share powers and resources with other public agencies in projects that might have been unattainable acting alone. MKB regularly advises its clients in the development of JPAs and the negotiation of JPA agreements, and it has extensive experience directly representing JPAs, which constitute separate public agencies once they are formed.
Many of the statutes and regulations that govern the activities of public agencies and their governing bodies contain policy statements that leave room for interpretation or elaboration when implemented at the agency level. Further, statutes and regulations that govern public agencies come from a variety of sources, and collecting them in one spot is a great benefit for governing bodies and their staffs. For these reasons and others, most public agencies maintain an administrative code that governs board and agency operations. MKB assists its clients in keeping such codes current with changing statutory and common law, and in interpreting the code as necessary in light of specific fact situations that may occur.
Water Companies
Privately owned water companies provide local water distribution services in many California communities. These corporations sometimes participate in joint programs with public agency water suppliers to develop and implement regional water development programs.
Investor-Owned Public Utilities
Private investor-owned water companies are public utilities subject to the jurisdiction and oversight of the California Public Utilities Commission. MKB represents investor-owned utilities in water rights matters and in regard to assuring water supply to land development projects. MKB also represents local public agencies in relationships with investor-owned public utilities.
Mutual water companies are user-owned water providers which are not subject to the jurisdiction of the California Public Utilities Commission. These companies, many of which continue to operate today, were used often in the early 20th century by agricultural communities to pool their water rights and other resources to develop communal water supply systems. Mutual water companies have often served as predecessors to public water supply agencies. Mutual water companies still are used in connection with some land developments as a way to maintain the priority of land-based water rights (riparian and overlying) even as water is served through a community water system. MKB works with both private development clients and public agencies with respect to mutual water companies.
Legislation
Water agencies, especially special districts, are created by or pursuant to statutes enacted by the State Legislature. They are also governed by a variety of statutes applicable to other forms of local government agencies. MKB deals with State legislative issues on nearly a daily basis while the Legislature is in session.
Bill Analysis and Early Warning
The California Legislature must be watched constantly because bills, both harmful and beneficial, are introduced or amended with little notice. MKB keeps a careful eye on pending bills which could affect water supply agencies and provides input to legislative advocates in Sacramento, including in particular the advocates for the Association of California Water Agencies. MKB lawyers often assist in drafting amendments to bills that are troublesome to the water community. MKB also reports to its water agency clients three times per legislative session on pending and enacted bills.
Drafting Special Legislative Acts and Problem Solving
MKB lawyers have drafted a number of comprehensive legislative measures to assist particular clients and the water agency community in general to solve legal problems. Examples are the San Gabriel Basin Water Quality Authority Act, the Uniform Standby Assessment Procedures Act, and the so-called San Marcos Legislation. MKB lawyers also have been involved in drafting amendments to existing statutes to solve problems for particular clients or for water agencies in general. Recent examples include Brown Act amendments to respond to the court decision in Wolf v. City of Fremont and amendments to the Prop 218 implementation statute in response to the Bighorn decision. MKB lawyers are well acquainted with a number of State legislators and have represented clients in testimony before legislative committees and assisted with other legislative advocacy.