SECTIONS 6451-6467 - California Statutes

PUBLIC UTILITIES CODE

SECTION 6451-6467

6451. The governing or legislative body of any city or city and
county having on July 27, 1917, a freeholders' charter adopted under
Section 8 of Article XI of the State Constitution, which charter
provides for the resettlement of and the granting of a resettlement
franchise to any person, firm, or corporation engaged in operating a
public utility in such city or city and county, is empowered to
provide for a general resettlement of the franchise rights and to
grant a resettlement franchise to any person, firm, or corporation
actually engaged in operating a street, suburban, or interurban
railroad in the city or city and county, upon written application
therefor, and upon such terms and conditions as are in this chapter
provided, and may, in the resettlement of any such franchise impose
other and additional terms and conditions not in conflict with this
chapter.

6452. The resettlement franchise shall be granted after such
publication and upon such notice as the governing or legislative body
shall by resolution determine, or failing such determination, after
such publication and upon such notice as is prescribed by law for the
enactment of ordinances by the governing or legislative body.

6453. After the final passage of a resettlement franchise, it shall
be referred and submitted to the vote of the electors of the city or
city and county at the general or special election next ensuing not
less than 20 days after the final passage of the ordinance, or if no
general or special election is to be held in the city or city and
county within a period of not less than 20 days and not more than 90
days after such final passage, the governing or legislative body may
call a special election to submit the ordinance to the electors, the
special election to be held not less than 30 days and not more than
60 days after such final passage.

6454. No resettlement franchise shall go into effect until it has
received the approval of a majority of the electors voting thereon
and until it has been accepted in writing by the grantee.

6455. Every resettlement franchise, permit, or privilege shall
confer upon the grantee the right to occupy the roads, streets,
highways, avenues, boulevards, lanes, alleys, courts, places, and
pathways of the city or city and county, particularly set out in the
terms and conditions of the franchise, permit, or privilege, for the
purpose of conducting, operating and maintaining thereon a street,
suburban, or interurban railroad, subject always to the right of the
city or city and county to acquire and possess the property of the
grantee.

6456. The grantee shall pay to the city or city and county such a
percentage of the net revenue annually collected from any and all
sources under and by virtue of the franchise, permit, or privilege as
is fixed in the franchise. What constitutes such annual net revenue
shall be provided in the franchise.

6457. The legislative or governing body may in a resettlement
franchise provide that any new franchise granted to the holder of the
resettlement franchise shall be considered as part of the
resettlement franchise.

6458. The legislative or governing body may in the resettlement
franchise provide that in case of consolidation or annexation to the
city or city and county of any territory after the date the
resettlement franchise is granted, any franchise to operate the
street, suburban, or interurban railroad, or any part thereof, held
or claimed by the holder of the resettlement franchise in or for any
portion of the consolidated or annexed territory shall thereupon be
surrendered to the city or city and county, and that the rights and
obligations of the resettlement franchise shall thereupon
automatically extend to the additional territory, and that a
valuation for the purpose of public acquisition of the properties
used and useful, or, in the discretion of the city or city and
county, prospectively useful, in the operation of the street,
suburban, or interurban railroad in the area consolidated or annexed,
and not included in the capital valuation already fixed in the
resettlement franchise, shall be added to the capital account of the
resettlement franchise grantee at a valuation for the purpose of
public acquisition fixed by the Public Utilities Commission, and
otherwise determined as provided in this chapter.

6459. Every resettlement franchise shall provide that the grantee
shall surrender the franchises or rights, owned or claimed by the
grantee, to occupy such portion of the roads, streets, highways,
avenues, boulevards, lanes, alleys, courts, places, and pathways as
it is proposed that the street, suburban, or interurban railroad
shall thereafter occupy under the provisions of the resettlement
franchise, and that the grantee shall accept in lieu thereof the
rights and privileges granted by the resettlement franchise as a
franchise for the continued operation of the street, suburban, or
interurban railroad within the limits of the city or city and county
or such portion thereof as had theretofore been operated under the
franchise or franchises surrendered.

6460. The resettlement franchise, permit, or privilege shall be
granted for an indeterminate period, subject always to the right of
the city or city and county to acquire and possess the property of
the grantee.

6461. The resettlement franchise shall be granted upon the express
condition that the city or city and county may, at a valuation for
the purpose of public acquisition, fixed and determined as provided
in Section 6462, assume ownership by purchase, or take over and
possess the property used and useful, or, in the discretion of the
city or city and county, prospectively useful property of the
franchise grantee, its successors or assigns, upon giving the grantee
written notice of its intention to purchase and take over the
property, which notice shall be given only when authorized by
ordinance of the legislative or governing body of the city or city
and county.

6462. The valuation for the purpose of public acquisition of
property used and useful, or in the discretion of the city or city
and county prospectively useful, and owned by the grantee at the time
application is made for a resettlement franchise, permit, or
privilege shall be fixed by the Public Utilities Commission. The
valuation of such property as fixed by the commission may be set
forth in the resettlement franchise, permit, or privilege, in which
case a readjustment from time to time of this valuation by the
addition of the cost of extensions and betterments and by the
deduction of the value of property sold or abandoned, and of the
amount of depreciation sustained by the property used or useful or
prospectively useful, shall be made in such manner as may in the
resettlement franchise be provided.

6463. All expenses of the valuation by the Public Utilities
Commission shall be paid by the city or city and county to the
commission.

6464. The resettlement franchise shall provide that the grantee,
its successors or assigns, shall never claim before any court or
other public authority in any proceeding of any character any value
for the resettlement franchise, permit, or privilege in excess of the
amount originally paid for it by the grantee to the granting
authority.

6465. The resettlement franchise may be amended from time to time
by ordinance passed by the governing or legislative body of the city
or city and county and ratified by the electors of the city or city
and county in the manner prescribed for the passage of the
resettlement franchise in the first instance, and not otherwise. No
such amendment is effective unless accepted in writing by the grantee
of the resettlement franchise.

6466. The power of the State, in the exercise of its police power
or otherwise through the instrumentality of the Public Utilities
Commission or other agency, to provide at any and all times for the
supervision and regulation of public utilities is not affected by any
franchise, permit, or privilege granted under this chapter.

6467. Nothing in this chapter, nor any provision of any franchise
granted under this chapter, shall prevent a city or city and county
from acquiring at any time the property of any public utility through
the exercise of the right of eminent domain, and no city or county
shall contract away, either for a term or in perpetuity, the right of
eminent domain in respect to any public utility.