California Government Code 54253 – No proposed franchise, license, or service agreement for a …
No proposed franchise, license, or service agreement for a privatization project pursuant to this article shall be entered into between a local agency and a privatizer unless and until all of the following occur:
(a) The local agency has selected the privatizer through a competitive procedure which is not based solely on the price offered by the privatizer.
Terms Used In California Government Code 54253
- Commission: means the Public Utilities Commission. See California Government Code 54250
- Jurisdiction: (1) The legal authority of a court to hear and decide a case. Concurrent jurisdiction exists when two courts have simultaneous responsibility for the same case. (2) The geographic area over which the court has authority to decide cases.
- Local agency: means any city, county, city and county, special district, or county service area. See California Government Code 54250
- Privatization project: as used in this article , includes the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority's Arlington Basin Groundwater Desalter Project, which will treat groundwater contaminated by wastewater. See California Government Code 54250
- Privatizer: means any corporation, partnership, or natural person, excluding municipal corporations, which owns and operates a wastewater or sewerage project pursuant to a franchise, license, or service agreement with a local agency. See California Government Code 54250
- Process: includes a writ or summons issued in the course of judicial proceedings of either a civil or criminal nature. See California Government Code 22
- Project: includes , but is not limited to, financing, designing, constructing, repairing, replacing, maintaining, and operating collector systems, pumping stations, treatment plants, and lateral interceptors, and outfall sewers. See California Government Code 54250
- State: means the State of California, unless applied to the different parts of the United States. See California Government Code 18
(b) The local agency has evaluated the project‘s design, capacity, financial feasibility, and cost compared with other conventional financing methods, as well as other alternatives to the project and found that the project’s costs will be equal to, or lower than, conventional financing.
(c) The local agency has conducted a noticed public hearing on the proposed franchise, license, or service agreement. The notice for the public hearing shall be published pursuant to Section 6062 and shall contain, at a minimum, all of the following:
(1) A statement describing the proposed privatization project, including its cost and service area.
(2) A statement of the time and place of the public hearing to be held for the purpose of hearing public comments on the proposed franchise, license, or service agreement for the privatization project.
(3) A statement of where and when the proposed franchise, license, or service agreement will be available for public inspection prior to the hearing.
(d) The local agency has adopted the contingent franchise, license, or service agreement for a privatization project by ordinance which states that it is subject to the provisions for referendum applicable to a local agency and to approval by the commission pursuant to § 10013 of the Public Utilities Code.
(e) The local agency retains ownership over any treated effluent from the privatization project that is not consigned to an outfall sewer but is made available for commercial or agricultural use.
(f) The agreement contains provisions stating it shall be subject to the state‘s prevailing wage laws.
(g) The local agency has met and conferred with all affected employee organizations under whose jurisdiction the work or service proposed under the franchise, license, or service agreement would normally be performed. The local agency shall make all reasonable efforts to avoid reducing its existing work force or demoting its existing employees as a result of entering into the franchise, license, or service agreement. If any adverse impacts which are raised by either party during the meet and confer process are necessary, the local agency shall adopt by resolution detailed findings explaining the necessity for the adverse impacts.
(h) The local agency finds that the privatizer has the expertise to ensure the continued operation and maintenance of the privatization project. This expertise shall include, but not be limited to, an adequate number of personnel certified in wastewater treatment plant operations pursuant to Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 13625) of Division 7 of the Water Code.
(i) The agreement contains provisions to ensure that the privatization project is operated to meet any applicable federal or state water quality standards or other laws.
(Amended by Stats. 1992, Ch. 669, Sec. 2. Effective January 1, 1993.)