(a) Thirty days after the expansion of the district, and notwithstanding Sections 32100.01 and 32100.02, the Board of Directors of the Desert Healthcare District shall adopt a resolution to increase the number of members of its board of directors from five to seven without the necessity of a petition or approval thereof by voters residing within the district. The resolution shall become effective on the date of, and subject to any conditions specified in, the resolution.

(b) The additional vacancies created by the expansion shall be filled by appointment by the board of directors. A person appointed to fill a vacancy created by subdivision (a) shall be a registered voter and a resident of the territory annexed by the district pursuant to Section 32499.

(c) Upon appointment, the board shall, by lot, designate one member appointed pursuant to subdivision (b) to have an initial term of office from the date of appointment until the date described in § 10554 of the Elections Code that occurs in 2020 and one member appointed pursuant to subdivision (b) to have an initial term of office from the date of appointment until the date described in § 10554 of the Elections Code that occurs in 2022.

(d) A vacancy in one or both of the board positions created by subdivision (a) after the first appointments to those positions pursuant to subdivision (b) shall be filled by the methods prescribed in § 1780 of the Government Code, and, after January 1, 2020, shall be filled by the methods prescribed in Section 32499.3.

(e) This section shall only become operative if the Desert Healthcare District is expanded in accordance with Section 32499.

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 126, Sec. 1. (AB 1095) Effective January 1, 2020. Section conditionally operative by its own provisions.)