SEC. 294.

Section 8 of the Santa Clarita Valley Water Agency Act (Chapter 833 of the Statutes of 2017), as amended by Section 1 of Chapter 369 of the Statutes of 2019, is amended to read: Sec. 8. (a) The agency shall be governed by a board of directors that shall initially consist of 15 members as follows: (1) The five members of the Newhall County Water District board of directors in office as of December 31, 2017. (2) The appointed member representing the purveyor described in subdivision (a) of Section 10 and the nine elected members of the Castaic Lake Water Agency board of directors in office as of December 31, 2017. (b) Each elected member of the board of directors shall be a resident within the agency’s service territory and shall hold office until a successor is elected pursuant to Section 9. (c) Each of the initial members of the board of directors of the agency, except for the initial appointed member, are deemed to be designated as a director from the electoral division, as described in Section 5, in which the director’s residence is located. (d) Each of the initial members of the board of directors of the agency, except for the initial appointed member, shall hold office as follows: (1) The initial terms of directors whose respective terms as a member of the Castaic Lake Water Agency or Newhall County Water District board of directors would have expired following the 2018 general election shall expire following the 2020 general election. (2) The initial terms of directors whose respective terms as a member of the Castaic Lake Water Agency or Newhall County Water District board of directors would have expired following the 2020 general election shall expire following the 2022 general election. (3) (A) If any elected initial member of the board of directors of the agency resigns, vacates, or is removed from office before the expiration of the director’s initial term, the board of directors may, in its discretion, decide not to appoint a successor and eliminate the seat on the board of directors. The board of directors shall appoint a successor if the electoral division in which the vacancy occurs will have fewer than three members representing the electoral division on the board of directors. (B) If the elimination of a seat pursuant to subparagraph (A) leaves only one director residing in an electoral division whose term expires following the 2020 general election, and if elimination of the seat occurs before the secretary of the agency provides notice to the county elections official pursuant to Section 10509 of the Elections Code, successors to the initial members of the board of directors shall be determined pursuant to paragraph (2) of subdivision (b) of Section 9.