(a) Following the expansion of the Board of Directors of the Desert Healthcare District, and notwithstanding Section 32100.1, the board of directors shall adopt a resolution to divide the district into seven voting districts, number the voting districts consecutively, and elect members of the board of directors by voting district beginning with the first district election after January 1, 2020.

(b) In establishing the voting districts described in subdivision (a), the board of directors shall provide for representation in accordance with demographic, including population, and geographic factors of the entire area of the district. The board of directors shall fix the time and place and give public notice for a hearing on the proposed establishment of the voting districts, at which any elector of the district may present his or her views and plans in relation to the proposed division, but the board of directors shall not be bound thereby and their decision, in the resolution adopted, shall be final.

(c) The resolution adopted pursuant to subdivision (a) shall declare the voting districts and describe the boundaries of each voting district.

(d) The voting districts described in subdivision (a) and any necessary procedures for implementing the election of the board of directors by voting districts shall be established and implemented on or before January 1, 2020.

(e) The voting districts established pursuant to this section shall be effective for the next district election after January 1, 2020. At the expiration of the terms of office of the members of the board of directors then in office, and thereafter, these members of the board of directors shall be elected by voting districts. One member of the board of directors shall be elected by the electors of each of the voting districts. A person shall not be eligible to hold the office of member of the board of directors unless he or she has been a resident of the voting district from which he or she is elected for 30 days next preceding the date of the election.

(f) A vacancy upon the board that results in a voting district left unrepresented prior to the expiration of the term of that board position shall be filled by appointment of the remaining members of the board of directors. A member of the board of directors appointed pursuant to this subdivision shall be a resident of the voting district left unrepresented on the board of directors.

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

(Added by Stats. 2016, Ch. 416, Sec. 1. (AB 2414) Effective January 1, 2017. Section conditionally operative by its own provisions.)