2007 California Health and Safety Code Article 1. General Provisions

CA Codes (hsc:2000-2007)

2000.  This chapter shall be known and may be cited as the Mosquito
Abatement and Vector Control District Law.



2001.  (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:

   (1) California's climate and topography support a wide diversity
of biological organisms.
   (2) Most of these organisms are beneficial, but some are vectors
of human disease pathogens or directly cause other human diseases
such as hypersensitivity, envenomization, and secondary infections.
   (3) Some of these diseases, such as mosquitoborne viral
encephalitis, can be fatal, especially in children and older
individuals.
   (4) California's connections to the wider national and
international economies increase the transport of vectors and
pathogens.
   (5) Invasions of the United States by vectors such as the Asian
tiger mosquito and by pathogens such as the West Nile virus
underscore the vulnerability of humans to uncontrolled vectors and
pathogens.
   (b) The Legislature further finds and declares:
   (1) Individual protection against the vectorborne diseases is only
partially effective.
   (2) Adequate protection of human health against vectorborne
diseases is best achieved by organized public programs.
   (3) The protection of Californians and their communities against
the discomforts and economic effects of vectorborne diseases is an
essential public service that is vital to public health, safety, and
welfare.
   (4) Since 1915, mosquito abatement and vector control districts
have protected Californians and their communities against the threats
of vectorborne diseases.
   (c) In enacting this chapter, it is the intent of the Legislature
to create and continue a broad statutory authority for a class of
special districts with the power to conduct effective programs for
the surveillance, prevention, abatement, and control of mosquitoes
and other vectors.
   (d) It is also the intent of the Legislature that mosquito
abatement and vector control districts cooperate with other public
agencies to protect the public health, safety, and welfare.  Further,
the Legislature encourages local communities and local officials to
adapt the powers and procedures provided by this chapter to meet the
diversity of their own local circumstances and responsibilities.




2002.  As used in this chapter:
   (a) "Abate" means to put an end to a public nuisance, or to reduce
the degree or the intensity of a public nuisance.
   (b) "Board of trustees" means the legislative body of a district.

   (c) "City" means any city, whether general law or chartered,
including a city and county, and including any city the name of which
includes the word "town."
   (d) "Control" means to prevent or reduce vectors.
   (e) "Department" means the State Department of Health Services.
   (f) "District" means any mosquito abatement and vector control
district created pursuant to this chapter or any of its statutory
predecessors.
   (g) "Principal county" means the county having all or the greater
portion of the entire assessed value, as shown on the last equalized
assessment roll of the county or counties, of all taxable property
within a district at the time of formation.
   (h) "Property" means land and improvements, and includes water.
   (i) "Public agency" means any state agency, board, or commission,
including the California State University and the University of
California, any county, city and county, city, regional agency,
school district, special district, redevelopment agency, or other
political subdivision.
   (j) "Public nuisance" means any of the following:
   (1) Any property, excluding water, that has been artificially
altered from its natural condition so that it now supports the
development, attraction, or harborage of vectors.  The presence of
vectors in their developmental stages on a property is prima facie
evidence that the property is a public nuisance.
   (2) Any water that is a breeding place for vectors.  The presence
of vectors in their developmental stages in the water is prima facie
evidence that the water is a public nuisance.
   (3) Any activity that supports the development, attraction, or
harborage of vectors, or that facilitates the introduction or spread
of vectors.
   (k) "Vector" means any animal capable of transmitting the
causative agent of human disease or capable of producing human
discomfort or injury, including, but not limited to, mosquitoes,
flies, mites, ticks, other arthropods, and rodents and other
vertebrates.
   (l) "Voter" means a voter as defined by Section 359 of the
Elections Code.


2003.  (a) This chapter provides the authority for the organization
and powers of mosquito abatement and vector control districts.  This
chapter succeeds the former Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 2200)
as added by Chapter 60 of the Statutes of 1939, as subsequently
amended, and any of its statutory predecessors.
   (b) Any mosquito abatement and vector control district formed
pursuant to the former Chapter 5 (commencing with Section 2200) or
any of its statutory predecessors that was in existence on January 1,
2003, shall remain in existence as if it had been organized pursuant
to this chapter.  Any zone of a mosquito abatement and vector
control district formed pursuant to former Section 2291 to former
Section 2291.4, inclusive, and any of their statutory predecessors
that was in existence on January 1, 2003, shall remain in existence
as if it had been formed pursuant to this chapter.
   (c) Any indebtedness, special tax, benefit assessment, fee,
election, ordinance, resolution, regulation, rule, or any other
action of a district taken pursuant to the former Chapter 5
(commencing with Section 2200) or any of its statutory predecessors
that was taken before January 1, 2003, shall not be voided solely
because of any error, omission, informality, misnomer, or failure to
comply strictly with this chapter.



2004.  This chapter is necessary to protect the public health,
safety, and welfare, and shall be liberally construed to effectuate
its purposes.


2005.  If any provision of this chapter or the application of any
provision of this chapter in any circumstance or to any person, city,
county, special district, school district, the state, or any agency
or subdivision of the state, including the California State
University and the University of California, is held invalid, that
invalidity shall not affect other provisions or applications of this
chapter that can be given effect without the invalid provision or
application of the invalid provision, and to this end the provisions
of this chapter are severable.



2006.  (a) Any action to determine the validity of either the
organization, or any action, of a district shall be brought pursuant
to Chapter 9 (commencing with Section 860) of Title 10 of Part 2 of
the Code of Civil Procedure.
   (b) Any judicial review of an action taken pursuant to this
chapter shall be conducted pursuant to Chapter 2 (commencing with
Section 1084) of Title 1 of Part 3 of the Code of Civil Procedure.




2007.  (a) Except as provided in this section, territory, whether
incorporated or unincorporated, whether contiguous or noncontiguous,
may be included in a district.  Territory that is already within a
mosquito abatement and vector control district formed pursuant to
this chapter may not be included within another mosquito abatement
and vector control district.
   (b) Except as otherwise provided in this chapter, the
Cortese-Knox-Hertzberg Local Government Reorganization Act of 2000,
Division 3 (commencing with Section 56000) of Title 5 of the
Government Code, shall govern any change of organization or
reorganization of a district.  In the case of any conflict between
that division and this chapter, the provisions of this chapter shall
prevail.
   (c) A district shall be deemed an "independent special district,"
as defined by Section 56044 of the Government Code.