KAMALA D. HARRIS Attorney General
MANUEL M. MEDEIROS Deputy Attorney General
AGO 15-1201
No. 15-1201
California Attorney General Opinions
Office of the Attorney General State of California
November 3, 2016
THE
HONORABLE GREGORY P. PRIAMOS, RIVERSIDE COUNTY COUNSEL, has
requested an opinion on the following question:
Should
vacancies that occur in unexpired terms on the Banning
Library District Board of Trustees be filled by the Riverside
County Board of Supervisors pursuant to Education Code
section 19426, or by the remaining library district trustees
in accordance with Government Code section 1780?
CONCLUSION
Vacancies
that occur in unexpired terms on the Banning Library District
Board of Trustees should be filled by the remaining library
district trustees in accordance with Government Code section
1780.
The
Banning Unified School District Library District was
established by public vote in 1916. At the time, state law
provided that "Any union high school district of this
state may establish, equip and maintain a public library for
the dissemination of knowledge of the arts, sciences and
general literature, in accordance with the provisions of this
act."1 For this purpose, the voters in a given
school district were empowered to form a "union high
school district public library district" or
"unified school district public library
district."[2] Upon voter approval, the county
board of supervisors would duly establish the library
district by resolution, and place the library district in the
control of the trustees of the corresponding school
district.3
In
accordance with this statutory scheme, the trustees of the
Banning Unified School District also governed the Banning
Unified School District Library District until
2006.4 In 2005, at the request of the Banning
Unified School District governing board, the Legislature
adopted Senate Bill 405, enacting Education Code section
18343.5 The measure expressly authorized the
governing board of the Banning Unified School District to
provide by resolution that, the Banning Unified School
District Library District would be renamed the Banning
Library District, and would thereafter be governed by a new
board of trustees.[6] That resolution was adopted in
December 2005.7
In
February 2006, the Riverside County Board of Supervisors
appointed a five-member board of trustees for the Banning
Library District "from the membership of the Library
Commission of the [former] Banning Unified School District
Library District."8 Trustees to the Banning Library
District board are now elected to staggered four-year
terms.9 The question presented for our resolution
concerns how a vacancy on the Banning Library District board
of trustees should be filled when the vacancy occurs before
the incumbent's term expires. Specifically, we are asked
whether such vacancies should be filled under the procedures
set forth in Education Code section 19426, which call for the
county Board of Supervisors to fill the vacancy by
appointment,10 or by those set forth in Government Code
section 1780, which provide that the remaining library
district trustees fill the vacancy by appointment or by
calling an election.11
Public
libraries in California may be established under a number of
different statutory schemes, depending upon the type of
governmental entity providing the library
service.12 Two categories of library district merit
discussion here. The first is one established by a school
district—a "chapter 3"
district,13 and the second is one established
independently—a "chapter 8"
district.14 The answer to the question presented to
us depends on whether the Banning Library District continues
to be a chapter 3 district, or whether it has become a
chapter 8 district by virtue of the 2005 legislation. We
conclude that the 2005 legislation did not change
the character of the library district from a...