Relating to the annexation of lands by a drainage or levee district, by providing for the payment of costs, and including effective date and applicability provisions

BACKGROUND.1).3(3)). If a board determines that lands outside a district are benefiting from improvements completed inside the district, the board may voluntarily or involuntarily annex those lands and assess landowners joining the district an amount necessary to maintain the district.121). GENERAL PAYMENT OF COSTS FOR A TERMINATED ANNEXATION.9). The costs of the proposed annexation include engineering costs, costs of any report, and any planned repair or improvement costs. SPECIAL CIRCUMSTANCE. The bill also provides for a special circumstance in which the board of supervisors acting as the governing body of a district considered a proposed annexation of lands on October 29, 2019, and August 24, 2020, but did not act to annex those lands. The bill provides that the annexation of the unapproved lands is terminated, and any costs and interest generated from those costs arising from the proposed annexation together with any planned improvements or repairs to the unapproved lands are obligations of the county rather than either the district or the district’s landowners. This provision of the bill takes effect upon enactment and applies retroactively to August 24, 2020.