Under existing law, a mutual water company is defined as a corporation organized for or engaged in the business of selling, distributing, supplying, or delivering water for irrigation or domestic purposes that provides in its articles or bylaws that the water shall be sold, distributed, supplied, or delivered only to owners of its shares, as specified.

The Mutual Water Company Open Meeting Act requires a board of directors of a mutual water company that operates a public water system to allow an eligible person, as defined, to personally attend a meeting of the board, if the eligible person gave the board at least 24 hours’ advance written notice of their intent to personally attend the meeting. Existing law authorizes the board to allow an eligible person who was denied attendance at a meeting for failure to provide this notice, or because the number of eligible persons having already provided notice of attendance exceeds the room capacity of the place of the meeting, to attend the meeting by teleconference. Existing law requires the board to provide to an eligible person attending a meeting by teleconference a copy of the documents to be discussed at the meeting, except as specified.

This bill would eliminate the 24-hour notice requirement for an eligible person to personally attend a meeting. The bill would authorize the board of directors of a mutual water company with less than 50 connections to use teleconferencing to provide any eligible person access to the meeting and would require a board of directors of a mutual water company with 50 or more connections to use teleconferencing to provide any eligible person access to the meeting.

Existing law requires the board of a mutual water company that operates a public water system to adopt an annual budget, as specified, and also requires the board to contract with a public accountant, as specified, to conduct an annual review of the financial records and reports of the mutual water company. Existing law requires the minutes of a board meeting, as specified, the annual budget, the accounting report, and other specified documents to be provided to an eligible person upon request and upon reimbursement of the mutual water company’s costs for providing the document.

This bill would require those documents to be provided to an eligible person upon request in an electronic form or in a hard copy. The bill would authorize a mutual water company to require an eligible person who requests a hard copy of those documents to pay a fee for the direct costs of duplication, but would prohibit a mutual water company from charging a fee for providing those documents electronically. The bill would require the mutual water company to display on the mutual water company’s internet website detailed information on how an eligible person can request those documents, as specified.

Existing law requires eligible persons to be given notice of the time and place of a meeting of the board of directors at least 4 days prior to the meeting, except as specified.

This bill would also require the notice of the meeting to be posted on the mutual water company’s internet website, as specified, and would require notice of the meeting and the agenda to be distributed by electronic means to specified eligible persons 4 days prior to the meeting.

Existing law defines eligible persons for purposes of these provisions to include various persons, including an elected official of a city or county who represents people who receive drinking water directly from the mutual water company on a retail basis.

This bill would also include within that definition, a federal or state official who represents people who receive drinking water directly from the mutual water company on a retail basis, and would include a representative of any of those elected officials.

Existing law requires every public water system, as a condition of its operating permit, to annually prepare a consumer confidence report and mail or deliver a copy of that report to each customer, except as specified.

This bill would require a mutual water company to make a downloadable electronic copy of its consumer confidence report available to the public on its internet website. The bill would also require the mutual water company to make a good faith effort to notify a consumer who is served by the public water system, but who is not a bill-paying customer of the report using a mix of methods appropriate to the particular public water system, as specified. The bill would require a mutual water company to annually send a summary to the State Water Resources Control Board summarizing its efforts to provide notice of the report to those consumers and would also require the mutual water company to post that summary on its internet website, as provided.

The California Safe Drinking Water Act provides for the operation of public water systems and imposes on the State Water Resources Control Board various responsibilities and duties relating to the regulation of drinking water to protect public health.

This bill would require the board to, on or before December 31, 2027, complete an assessment of mutual water companies that operate a public water system, with a focus on those serving disadvantaged and low-income communities. The bill would require the assessment to include, among other things, an assessment of compliance history with state drinking water standards by a representative sample of mutual water companies serving disadvantaged and low-income communities. The bill would also require the board to, among other things, host public hearings in disadvantaged and low-income communities served by mutual water companies to receive community input to inform the assessment, as provided. The bill would require mutual water companies to cooperate with the board in completing the assessment and to reasonably attempt to furnish all information and feedback requested by the board, as provided. The bill would require the board to post the assessment on its internet website and to provide the assessment to the Legislature.