Section 21013 - Invalid contract or proceeding(a) Whenever any court of competent jurisdiction shall determine that any contract purporting to have been made, or any proceedings, steps or actions purporting to have been taken, or any bond or bonds issued under this act, is or are void, invalid or unenforceable, or shall for any cause enjoin the issuance of any bonds proposed to be issued under this act, or shall enjoin the performance of the work or improvement or the making of an assessment upon the lands within the district, or shall quiet title of any lot or parcel of land against the lien of any such bonds or assessments, said court shall also determine whether any work has been done or improvements have been made in good faith by any contractor under said invalid contract or proceeding or under any contract pursuant to which bonds were issued, or are proposed to be issued, and if so what part, if any, of said work or improvement was of such kind as might have been ordered under the provisions of this act. If the court shall find that any work or improvement of such kind as might have been ordered under this act has been done or performed in good faith by any contractor under or in pursuance to a contract purporting to have been made under the provisions of this act, then the said court shall direct the board of supervisors, who conducted the proceeding, to take proceedings as in this section provided for the issuing of new bonds to cover the reasonable value of said work or improvement. The board of supervisors may also without any decree of court, upon written application of a contractor, who may have done or performed in good faith any work or improvement pursuant to a contract purporting to have been made under this act, or of the assignee of such contractor, after the work or improvement shall have been accepted, determine that the proceeding authorizing said work or improvement or the acceptance thereof are for any reason invalid, and direct that new proceedings be initiated as provided in this section for the issuance of bonds to cover the reasonable value of so much of said work or improvement as is of a kind which might have been ordered and performed under this act.(b) It is hereby declared to be the true intent and meaning of this section to make the cost and expenses of all work or improvements made or to be made through an attempted compliance with the provisions of this act payable by the lands benefited or to be benefited by such work or improvement, by the issuance of new bonds to defray the expenses thereof, but that all payments of principal or interest on void or unenforceable assessments or bonds shall be credited to the property against which they were assessed or attempted to be assessed.(c) Upon a decree of court or an order of the board of supervisors having been made as above provided, said board shall cause to be made by the county surveyor, or some other county officer or by some other competent person appointed by it for that purpose, a report for a proposed new bond issue. Said report shall set forth a description of the work or improvement done or performed by said contractor or his or her assignee pursuant to the contract referred to in said decree of court or order of the board, which work or improvement has been found by said court or said board to be of such kind as might have been ordered under this act, and shall state the reasonable value of said work or improvement (which shall not exceed the aggregate of the original contract price for said work or improvement, together with the incidental expenses of the original proceedings for said work or improvement, and if the work or improvement has been accepted it shall also include interest upon said total from the date of the original acceptance of said work or improvement by the board of supervisors at the same rate proposed for the new bond issue). Said report shall contain a description of the district benefited by said improvement. In the event that the original proceedings contemplated an assessment upon lands within the district in accordance with the provisions of Section 12 of Chapter 354 of the Statutes of 1919 of this act then said report shall contain a proposed assessment of each separate parcel of land within the district benefited by said improvement, which assessment shall conform as nearly as may be with the report required by Section 12 of Chapter 354 of the Statutes of 1919 hereof, and shall be accompanied by a map or plat as therein provided.(d) In the event any payments have been made on the principal or interest of any bonds previously issued, which have been declared invalid, by the payment of any special assessment taxes, by the owners of land within the assessment district, the amounts of such payments shall be ascertained and deducted from the amount for which new bonds are to be issued under this section and said report shall set forth the amount of the payments made and state that a credit or offset is to be made for said amount in the issuance of such new bonds.(e) Upon the filing of said report the board of supervisors shall fix a day, hour, and place, for a hearing thereon, which time shall not be less than 20 days after the time of filing said report, and shall direct the clerk of the board to give notice of the filing of the report and of the hearing. The clerk shall thereupon cause notice of the time and place of such hearing to be given by publication in the newspaper designated in the resolution of intention by at least two insertions therein not more than eight days apart. When, before the day of hearing specified in said notice, 20 days, including Sundays and holidays, have elapsed since the first publication of said notice the board of supervisors shall have acquired power to proceed with such hearing. Said notice shall state the fact of the filing of said report and shall contain (a) a general description of the location and extent of the work or improvement sufficient to identify the same; (b) a description of the district benefited by said work or improvement as contained in said report; (c) either a statement that said report contains an assessment proposed to be levied on each separate parcel of land within said district to retire the bonds proposed to be issued and to pay the interest thereon for each year during which said assessment shall continue, or a description of the zones, if any, into which such district is to be divided, and a statement of the percentage to be raised from the land in each of such zones each year for the payment of the installments of principal and interest on the bonds proposed to be issued; (d) a statement of the reasonable value of the work or improvement together with the incidental expenses of the original proceedings and the amount of interest, if any, upon said total; (e) the amount of the payments of principal or interest made upon the bonds previously issued, if any, and the credit or offset to be deducted in the issuance of such new bonds; (f) the total amount of the proposed new bond issue and a description of the bonds proposed to be issued, which bonds shall be as nearly as possible the same as to maturity, rate of interest, and other particulars as the bonds described in the original proceedings for said work or improvement, correcting any errors or irregularities, that may have existed in the bonds in said original proceedings.(f) Said notice shall advise all persons interested that at the time fixed for the hearing of the report or at the time to which the hearing may be continued any person may appear and be heard upon any of the matters set forth in the report. The board of supervisors shall have power to confirm said report and to revise, correct, or modify the same in respect to any of the matters therein contained either as to the amount or character of the work or improvement done or the reasonable value thereof, the extent of the district to be benefited thereby, the amount of assessment levied upon any particular parcel of land within such district, the zones, if any, into which said district is divided, the percentages to be raised in each or any of said zones, the amount of deductions or offsets by reason of payments of principal or interest upon previously issued bonds, the amount of the bonds proposed to be issued, the maturity or rate of the interest thereon, or as to any other matter set forth in said report.(g) At the conclusion of the hearing the board of supervisors shall adopt a resolution declaring its findings and determinations in the matter, which shall be final and conclusive upon all persons in all proceedings as to all matters so found and determined. If no changes are made in the matters set forth in said report it shall be sufficient in said resolution to declare that said report is confirmed and that bonds shall be issued as therein provided, but if any changes are made such changes shall be set forth and it may be declared that said report is confirmed as so modified by the changes set forth. The clerk of the board of supervisors shall transmit an attested copy of said resolution to the treasurer and upon receipt of the same the treasurer shall immediately proceed to issue the bonds as therein ordered, which said bonds shall be dated as of the date of the adoption of said resolution. Said bonds shall be issued and signed in all respects by the same officers and in the same manner and form as if issued pursuant to the provisions of Section 16 of Chapter 354 of the Statutes of 1919. Said bonds by their issuance shall be conclusive evidence of the regularity of all proceedings prior thereto under this act and after the same are issued no assessment or tax levied or collected for the purpose of paying the principal or interest on said bonds shall be held illegal or set aside or refunded by reason of any error, informality, irregularity, omission, or defect in any of the proceedings prior to the issuance of said bonds, nor shall any action or proceedings be thereafter commenced or maintained to cancel or set aside said bonds or prevent the payment thereof or the levy, collection or enforcement of any assessment or taxes for such payment.Ca. Pub. Cont. Code § 21013
Added by Stats. 1984, Ch. 1128, Sec. 69.