sanitary districts; directors; payment

SB1007 - 572R - I Ver

PREFILED��� DEC 02 2025

REFERENCE TITLE:
sanitary districts; directors; payment

State of Arizona

Senate

Fifty-seventh Legislature

Second Regular Session

2026

SB 1007

Introduced by

Senator
Kavanagh

AN
ACT

amending
section 48-2010, Arizona Revised Statutes; relating to sanitary
districts.

(TEXT OF BILL BEGINS ON NEXT PAGE)

Be it enacted by the Legislature of the State of Arizona:

Section 1. Section 48-2010, Arizona Revised
Statutes, is amended to read:

START_STATUTE
48-2010.

Board of directors; qualifications; term; appointment; election;
conversion; reorganization; compensation; expenses

A. A sanitary district having an area of one hundred
sixty acres or more shall be governed by a board of directors with
not less than

at least
three members.�
Members of the board of directors shall be qualified electors of the
district. Immediately after the first regular election held
subsequent to the enactment of this section by a sanitary district organized
and existing
prior to
before
such
enactment, the directors shall meet and divide themselves by lot into two
classes as nearly equal in number as possible.� Directors of the first class
shall serve for a term of four years, and directors of the second class for a
term of two years, and until the directors' successors are elected and
qualified. Thereafter at each regular election one director for each
expired term shall be elected, and shall hold office for a term of four years,
and until the director's successor is elected and qualified. The
dates of elections and of expiration of terms of the initial directors shall be
specified in the petition for establishment of the district. Except
for an election to reorganize a sanitary district, candidates for directors
shall file nominating petitions with the board of supervisors as prescribed by
title 16, chapter 3.� If only one person files or no person files a nominating
petition for an election to fill a district office, the board of supervisors
may cancel the election for the position and appoint the person who filed the
nominating petition to fill the position. If no person files a
nominating petition for an election to fill a district office, the board of
supervisors may cancel the election for that office and that office is deemed
vacant and shall be filled as otherwise provided by law. A person
who is appointed pursuant to this section is fully vested with the powers and
duties of the office as if elected to that office.

B. A director who resides in an area
which
that
is deleted from the sanitary district during the
director's term of office shall continue to serve until the next regular
election, and until the director's successor is elected and
qualified. If the director's term does not expire at that time, a
new qualified director shall be elected to serve out the unexpired portion.

C. A sanitary district having an area of less than
one hundred sixty acres shall be governed by the board of supervisors of the
county in which the district is located, and the board of supervisors shall be
the board of directors of the district. On receipt of a petition
that contains the signatures of twenty-five
per cent
percent
or more of the qualified electors residing in the
district that are verified by the county recorder and that requests that the
district be converted and administered by its own board of directors, the board
of supervisors shall call an election on the conversion of the sanitary
district. The election may be held on any consolidated election date
as prescribed in section 16-204.� The sanitary district shall reimburse
the county for the expenses of the sanitary district election.� The petition
for the conversion of the district shall specify either three or five as the
number of directors for the converted sanitary district. The board
of supervisors shall give notice of the election by posting copies of the order
of election in three public places within the district
not less
than

at least
twenty days
prior to
before
the date of the election and if a newspaper is
published within the county having a general circulation within the district,
the order shall be published in the newspaper not less than once a week during
each of the three calendar weeks preceding the calendar week of the
election. The ballot for the election shall state "convert from
a sanitary district administered by the county board of supervisors to a
sanitary district administered by a local board of directors consisting of
(insert three members or five members, as appropriate) - yes",
"convert from a sanitary district administered by the county board of
supervisors to a sanitary district administered by a local board of directors
consisting of (insert three or five members, as appropriate) -
no". The ballot shall also allow each elector to indicate the
elector's choice for board members in the event of conversion. Within
twenty days after the election, the board of supervisors shall meet and canvass
the returns, and if it is determined that a majority of the votes cast at the
election were in favor of converting the sanitary district, the board shall enter
that fact on its minutes, declare the district duly converted and announce the
names of those elected to the district board.

D. The board of supervisors shall make an order
calling an election to decide whether to reorganize a sanitary district that
has a board consisting of three members as a sanitary district that has a board
consisting of five members when a petition containing the signatures of twenty-five

per cent
percent
of the qualified
electors residing within the district and requesting that the district be
reorganized is filed with the board except the board of supervisors shall not
call for a reorganization election to expand the number of directors on the
district board more frequently than once every two years. The
election may be held on any consolidated election date as prescribed in section
16-204.� The sanitary district shall reimburse the county for the
expenses of the sanitary district election. The board of supervisors
shall give notice of the election by posting copies of the order of election in
three public places within the district not less than twenty days
prior to
before
the date of the election
and if a newspaper is published within the county having a general circulation
within the district, the order shall be published in the newspaper
not less than
at least
once a week during
each of the three calendar weeks preceding the calendar week of the
election. The ballot for the election shall state "shall the
current
three member
three-member

sanitary district board be reorganized to a
five member
five-member
board - yes or no".� The ballot shall
also allow each elector to indicate the elector's choice for two additional
board members in the event of reorganization. Within twenty days
after the election, the board of supervisors shall meet and canvass the
returns, and if it is determined that a majority of the votes cast at the
election were in favor of reorganizing the sanitary district as a district with
a
five member
five-member

board, the board shall enter that fact on its minutes, declare the district
duly reorganized and announce the names of those elected to the district board.

E. Each director of a sanitary district shall
receive not more than
one hundred fifty dollars
$363
per month or a lesser amount as set by the board of
directors of the district plus necessary traveling expenses, but members of the
board of supervisors when serving as directors of a sanitary district shall
receive no compensation for attending meetings but shall be reimbursed for
their necessary expenses.
� Beginning in 2030 and every five
years thereafter, the board of directors of the district may modify the amount
paid to the directors based on the increase or decrease in the consumer price
index as published by the United States department of labor, bureau of labor
statistics during the preceding five years.
No director shall
receive compensation, other than expenses, for attending more than four
meetings of the board during a calendar month.

F. For a district that is not governed by the board
of supervisors, if a vacancy occurs on the district board due to death,
disability, resignation or any other cause, the board of directors of the
sanitary district shall appoint a qualified elector of the district to fill the
office for the remaining portion of that term, except that if the remaining
directors do not constitute a quorum, the county board of supervisors shall
make the appointment to fill the vacancy.
END_STATUTE