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

(1) The differences among California’s communities reflect the broad diversity of the state’s population, geography, natural resources, history, and economy.

(2) The residents and property owners in California’s diverse communities desire public facilities and services that promote the public peace, health, safety, and welfare.

(3) Responding to these communities’ desires, the Legislature enacted the Community Services District Law in 1951, and reenacted the Community Services District Law in 1955.

(4) Between 1955 and 2005, the voters in more than 300 communities have formed community services districts to achieve local governance, provide needed public facilities, and supply public services.

(5) Since then, the Legislature has amended the Community Services District Law in many ways, resulting in a statute that can be difficult for residents, property owners, and public officials to understand and administer.

(6) There is a need to revise the Community Services District Law to achieve statutory clarity and provide a framework for local governance that California’s diverse communities can adapt to their local conditions, circumstances, and resources.

(7) The enactment of this division is necessary for the public peace, health, safety, and welfare.

(b) The Legislature finds and declares that for many communities, community services districts may be any of the following:

(1) A permanent form of governance that can provide locally adequate levels of public facilities and services.

(2) An effective form of governance for combining two or more special districts that serve overlapping or adjacent territory into a multifunction special district.

(3) A form of governance that can serve as an alternative to the incorporation of a new city.

(4) A transitional form of governance as the community approaches cityhood.

(c) In enacting this division, it is the intent of the Legislature:

(1) To continue a broad statutory authority for a class of limited-purpose special districts to provide a wide variety of public facilities and services.

(2) To encourage local agency formation commissions to use their municipal service reviews, spheres of influence, and boundary powers, where feasible and appropriate, to combine special districts that serve overlapping or adjacent territory into multifunction community services districts.

(3) That residents, property owners, and public officials use the powers and procedures provided by the Community Services District Law to meet the diversity of the local conditions, circumstances, and resources.

(Added by Stats. 2005, Ch. 249, Sec. 3. Effective January 1, 2006.)