(a) Notwithstanding any other law, the number of members, the election of members, and the reapportionment of trustee areas of the Governing Board of the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District shall be provided for pursuant to this section and in accordance with the California Voting Rights Act of 2001 (Chapter 1.5 (commencing with Section 14025) of Division 14 of the Elections Code).

(b) For purposes of this section, “district” means the Grossmont-Cuyamaca Community College District.

(c) Candidates for election as a member of the governing board of the district shall be nominated by trustee area at a district primary election held on the date of the statewide direct primary election. At the district primary election, the two candidates receiving the highest number of votes within the trustee area shall be nominees for the district general election for that trustee area, and the nominee who receives a majority of the votes cast by the voters of the trustee area in the district general election shall be elected to represent that trustee area. The district general election shall be held on the same date as the statewide general election.

(d) Each member of the governing board elected at the district general election shall hold office for a term of four years commencing on the second Friday in December following the member’s election.

(e) Candidates for election as members of the governing board shall do both of the following:

(1) File a declaration of candidacy as provided in this code.

(2) File nominating papers following the procedural and substantive requirements in Sections 10220 to 10227, inclusive, of the Elections Code, except to the extent those requirements conflict with the requirements of subdivision (c) or this paragraph. For the purposes of this paragraph, any reference to the city elections official in the Elections Code means the elections official of the county. Each candidate shall be proposed by not less than 40 nor more than 60 voters in a trustee area.

(f) The territory of the district shall be divided into trustee areas and one member of the governing board shall be elected from each trustee area. A candidate for election as a member of the governing board of the district shall reside in, and be registered to vote in, the trustee area the candidate seeks to represent.

(g) The governing board of the district shall be composed of not less than five members and not more than nine, as determined by the governing board. Sections 5019 to 5030, inclusive, do not apply to the governing board’s determination of the number of members pursuant to this subdivision. If the number of members of the governing board is increased or decreased, the governing board shall establish new trustee areas, abolish trustee areas, or adjust the boundaries of trustee areas so that the number of trustee areas is equal to the number of governing board members. If the number of members of the governing board is increased, the additional members of the governing board shall be elected at the next regular district general election of board members occurring at least 123 days after the governing board approved the increased number of board members. Prior to the next district general election, the governing board shall divide by lot the additional trustee area positions that are created so that the term of one-half of the board members elected to those positions shall expire on the second Friday in December following the next district general election. The term of the other board members elected to fill the remainder of the additional positions shall expire on the second Friday in December following the second district general election succeeding their election.

(h) Boundaries for trustee areas established by a resolution of the governing board of the district or adopted by the county committee on school district organization prior to January 1, 2012, to reflect population changes enumerated in the 2010 decennial federal census shall be in effect when this section becomes operative. The boundaries of each trustee area shall be set so that the population of each area is, as nearly as may be, the same proportion of the total population of the district as each of the other areas. Thereafter, the boundaries of trustee areas shall be adjusted pursuant to Section 5019.5 and may be abolished or rearranged as otherwise provided in this code.

(Amended by Stats. 2019, Ch. 624, Sec. 2. (AB 1150) Effective January 1, 2020.)