(a) Every district may do all of the following:
(1) Provide and maintain memorial halls, assembly halls, buildings, or meeting places, together with suitable indoor and outdoor park and recreation facilities, including swimming pools, picnic areas, and playgrounds, for the use of persons or organizations other than veterans, pursuant to paragraphs (8) and (9), and veteran soldiers, sailors, and marines who have honorably served the United States in any wars or campaigns recognized by law for the purposes of Section 3 of Article XIII of the California Constitution, or for the use of patriotic, fraternal, or benevolent associations of those persons. However, no district shall provide and maintain indoor and outdoor park and recreation facilities, including swimming pools, picnic areas, and playgrounds, unless these projects have been approved by a majority of the voters at either the general district election or at a special election called for that purpose. The question of whether the district shall provide and maintain indoor and outdoor park and recreation facilities may be submitted to the registered voters of the district by the board on its own motion and shall be submitted by the board upon petition signed by 8 percent of the registered voters of the district, at either the general district election or at a special election called for that purpose. If submitted at a special election, the election shall be called, conducted, governed, and regulated in the same manner as the general district election.
All plans for indoor and outdoor park and recreation facilities, including swimming pools, picnic areas, and playgrounds, shall be approved initially by the board of supervisors.
(2) Purchase, receive by donation, condemn, lease, or acquire real or personal property necessary or convenient for the construction or maintenance of halls, buildings, meeting places, and facilities, and improve, preserve, manage, and control these facilities.
(3) Purchase, construct, lease, build, furnish, or repair halls, buildings, meeting places, and facilities upon sites owned or leased by the district or made available to the district, and provide custodians, employees, attendants, and supplies for the proper maintenance, care, and management of those halls, buildings, meeting places, and facilities.
(4) Furnish sites for halls, buildings, meeting places, or facilities, to be built either by the district or by or for patriotic, fraternal, or benevolent associations of veterans, if the funds for these sites are supplied by the district or from other sources.
(5) Enter into agreements with county, municipal, school, park, or other public authorities or agencies conveying, leasing, or making available to the district, either gratuitously or for compensation, sites upon public land for the construction, maintenance, and management by the district of assembly or memorial halls, buildings, meeting places, or facilities, and construct and maintain on those sites halls, buildings, meeting places, or facilities.
(6) Sell or lease any district property to the highest responsible bidder, as determined by the board, except as provided by Section 1191.3. The board shall, prior to any sale, make a call for bids and advertise that call pursuant to Section 6062 of the Government Code in a newspaper of general circulation in the district, inviting sealed bids for the sale or lease of the property. The board may either accept the highest responsible bid or reject all bids. The board may require the successful bidder to file with the board good and sufficient undertaking to be approved by the board to insure faithful performance of the contract of sale or lease. No sale or lease shall be transacted, however, if a petition has been filed with the board requesting it not to enter into the sale or lease of the property.
The petition shall have affixed to it, as petitioners, the signatures, indicating place of residence and place of signing, of the registered voters of the district in a number equal to at least 10 percent of the votes cast in the district at the last preceding general election held in the state.
If the petition meets these requirements, as determined by the records of the county elections official for the county or counties in which the district is situated, the board either shall not convey the property or shall submit the matter to the registered voters of the district to be voted upon at the next primary or general election, or at a special election called for the purpose of ratifying or rejecting the action of the district to sell or lease the property.
(7) Sell or lease any district property to any political subdivision, or portion thereof, in which the district is situated for purposes of roads, streets, or highways, or for the improvement of roads, streets, or highways, without regard to the highest responsible bidder but otherwise meeting the petition requirements of paragraph (6).
(8) Adopt, from time to time, reasonable rules and regulations for the use of halls, buildings, meeting places, and facilities by veterans or by organizations of veterans, and to allow the halls, buildings, meeting places, and facilities to be used for lawful purposes consistent with the objects of this section by persons or organizations other than veterans either free of charge or for stated compensation to aid in defraying the cost of maintenance of the facilities, if that use will not unduly interfere with the reasonable use of the facilities by veterans’ associations.
(9) Enter into a joint powers agreement for recreational or senior citizens’ services within the district.
(b) In conformance with this section, a district may provide recreational facilities or services at any location within the district regardless of the location of district-owned facilities. A district may not increase its tax levy for the purpose of providing recreational services for persons other than veterans unless that increase is first approved by a majority of the registered voters of the district who vote upon the proposal.
(c) (1) A district may provide funding to providers of supportive services that improve the quality of life for veterans and their families. Those supportive services may include, but are not limited to, behavioral health services, counseling, social services, case management, affordable housing, and employment training and placement.
(2) A district may not use existing bond moneys for the purposes described in paragraph (1), unless either of the following circumstances apply:
(A) The voters agree to restructure existing bond moneys to authorize a district to additionally use those moneys for the purposes described in paragraph (1).
(B) The existing bond moneys are currently authorized to be used for the purposes described in paragraph (1).
(Amended by Stats. 2017, Ch. 197, Sec. 1. (AB 671) Effective January 1, 2018.)