(a) (1) The chief petitioners, the agency filing the resolution, or any member or members of the board of supervisors authorized by the board, any individual voter or bona fide association of citizens entitled to vote on the district formation proposition, or any combination of these voters and associations of citizens, may file with the elections official of the principal county a written argument for or a written argument against the proposed district formation.

(2) Arguments shall not exceed 300 words in length. Based on the time reasonably necessary to prepare and print the text of the proposition, analysis, arguments, and sample ballots and to permit the 10-day public examination period as provided in Section 9190 of the Elections Code for the particular election, the elections official of the principal county shall fix and determine a reasonable date prior to the election after which no arguments for or against the measure may be submitted for printing and distribution to the voters, pursuant to Section 9185. Notice of the date fixed shall be published by the elections official pursuant to Section 6061 of the Government Code. Arguments may be changed until and including the date fixed by the elections official.

(b) If more than one argument for or more than one argument against the proposed district formation is filed with the elections official within the time prescribed, the elections official shall select one of the arguments for printing and distribution to the voters.

In selecting the arguments, the elections official shall give preference and priority in the order named to the arguments of the following:

(1) Chief petitioners, or the agency filing the resolution.

(2) The board of supervisors, or any member or members of the board authorized by the board.

(3) Individual voters, or bona fide associations of citizens or a combination of these voters and associations.

(c) When the elections official of the principal county has selected the arguments for and against the measure which will be printed and distributed to the voters, he or she shall send copies of the argument in favor of the measure to the authors of the argument against, and copies of the argument against to the authors of the argument in favor. The authors may prepare and submit rebuttal arguments not exceeding 250 words. The rebuttal arguments shall be filed with the elections official of the principal county not more than 10 days after the final date for filing direct arguments. Rebuttal arguments shall be printed in the same manner as the direct arguments. Each rebuttal argument shall immediately follow the direct argument which it seeks to rebut, and shall be titled “Rebuttal to Argument in Favor of Measure (or Proposition) ____” or “Rebuttal to Argument Against Measure (or Proposition) ____,” the blank spaces being filled in only with the letter or number, if any, designating the measure. Words used in the title shall not be counted when determining the length of any rebuttal argument.

(Amended by Stats. 1994, Ch. 923, Sec. 173. Effective January 1, 1995.)