Bill to Revise Water District Elections Passes : Politics: Conroy measure to mandate ‘one man, one vote’ for Santa Margarita board races began amid conflict-of-interest probe.

SACRAMENTO —  The state Senate gave final approval Thursday to an Orange County lawmaker’s bill to dramatically restructure the way directors are elected in the troubled Santa Margarita Water District.

The Senate voted 26-0 to send the measure by Assemblyman Mickey Conroy (R-Orange) to the desk of Gov. Pete Wilson, who is expected to sign it in the next few weeks.

In pushing the bill through the legislative process, Conroy argued that Santa Margarita was the “South Africa” of water districts because its directors are not elected on the principle of “one man, one vote.” Instead, the district allows landowners to cast one vote for every dollar of assessed land, meaning a homeowner with $100,000 worth of land is entitled to cast 100,000 votes.

Conroy argued that the system ensured that the board was more accountable to big developers than to the district’s 26,500 ratepayers, many of whom were angered by disclosures that two former top managers engaged in lavish spending and took questionable gifts from firms that did business with the water district.

Under Conroy’s bill, which would go into effect Jan. 1 and be used when the directors are up for election later that year, each registered voter would cast a single ballot in the race, much like any other political election.

“I think this is extremely important for the future of this water district,” Conroy said. “Now you’re going to have candidates who will have to go out and face the people.”

Law enforcement officials are investigating possible conflict-of-interest violations at the water district, including allegations that former General Manager Walter W. (Bill) Knitz and his deputy, Michael P. Lord, accepted gifts from contractors in excess of state limits.

Knitz and Lord, who both retired May 24, have denied the allegations.

The district board began re-evaluating its policies following a series of stories by The Times. In June, the district adopted a strict ethics code that bans officials from receiving any gifts from vendors, including meals and entertainment.

Conroy, however, said his bill is needed to ensure that district directors are accountable to customers in the district, which serves more than 84,000 people in Rancho Santa Margarita, Mission Viejo, Coto de Caza and unincorporated areas of the county.

For a time late last week it appeared the bill might be in jeopardy because of Sacramento politics.

The measure was scheduled for a vote on the Senate floor, but Sen. Art Torres (D-Los Angeles) asked that it be pulled to the Rules Committee, where it was killed on a technicality. In April, Conroy amended the water district legislation into a moribund bill having to do with harbors, thus violating the Legislature’s often-ignored policy requiring that amendments be germane to a bill’s initial subject matter.

Afterward, Conroy said, he approached Torres for an explanation. The senator told him that he pulled the bill only because legislation of his own had been mistreated in the Assembly, Conroy said.

Conroy showed Torres a stack of newspaper clippings on the furor at the water district, noted that the legislation had not received a negative vote in any committee and asked that he remove his opposition. Torres agreed. The bill was revived earlier this week by the Rules Committee and sent back to the Senate floor for the unanimous vote.