(a) Each district required by its authorizing act to adjust division boundaries pursuant to this section shall, by resolution, after each federal decennial census, and using that census as a basis, adjust the boundaries of any divisions so that the divisions are, as far as practicable, equal in population and in compliance with Section 10301 of Title 52 of the United States Code, as amended, to the extent those provisions apply. In adjusting the boundaries of the divisions, the board may give consideration to the following factors: (1) topography, (2) geography, (3) cohesiveness, contiguity, integrity, and compactness of territory, and (4) community of interests of the division. This section does not apply to divisions in which only landowners vote for directors or whose directors are all elected at large or appointed.
(b) The resolution specified in subdivision (a) shall be adopted by a vote of not less than a majority of the directors.
(c) At the time of, or after, any annexation of territory to the district, the board of directors shall designate, by resolution, the division of which the annexed territory shall be a part.
(d) No change in division boundaries may be made within 180 days preceding the election of any director.
(e) (1) A change in division boundaries shall not affect the term of office of any director.
(2) If division boundaries are adjusted, the director of the division whose boundaries have been adjusted shall continue to be the director of the division bearing the number of his or her division as formerly comprised until the office becomes vacant by means of term expiration or otherwise, whether or not the director is a resident within the boundaries of the division as adjusted.
(f) The successor to the office in a division whose boundaries have been adjusted shall be a resident and voter of that division.
(g) A district is not required to adjust the boundaries of any divisions pursuant to this section until after the 2000 federal decennial census.
(h) Nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit or restrict a district from adjusting the boundaries of any divisions whenever the governing body of the district determines by a two-thirds vote of the governing body that a sufficient change in population has occurred that makes it desirable in the opinion of the governing body to adjust the boundaries of any divisions, or whenever any territory is added by or excluded from the district.
(Amended by Stats. 2015, Ch. 732, Sec. 40. (AB 1536) Effective January 1, 2016.)
Last modified: October 25, 2018