A. After receipt of the petition, the county commissioners and the county commissioners of any participating adjacent county shall:

1. Verify the authenticity of each signatory whose address is located within the county;

2. Coordinate with the Oklahoma Water Resources Board and, if necessary, the adjacent counties to verify that ten individual permit holders within the proposed district have signed the petition; and

3. If, upon consideration, it shall be found that such petition is in conformity with the requirements of this act, and that such a district should be created, the board of county commissioners shall thereupon immediately declare the land described in the petition or any part thereof to be incorporated as a district under the name of "____ Groundwater Irrigation District" (inserting unique name of irrigation district) and thereupon the district shall be a body politic and corporate and an agency and legally constituted authority of the State of Oklahoma for the public purposes set forth in this act. The board of county commissioners shall thereupon enter upon its records full minutes of such hearing, together with its order creating the district under the corporate name for the purposes of this act. Such districts shall not be political corporations or subdivisions of the state within the meaning of any constitutional debt limitations, nor shall the districts have any power or authority to levy any taxes whatsoever or make any assessments on property, real or personal.

B. After the county commissioners and the county commissioners of any participating adjacent county have submitted a request for the formation of a groundwater irrigation district, each county board of commissioners shall assign members of the initial district board. A county board of commissioners shall select three members representing groundwater irrigation users within the county. If multiple counties reside within the district, each county shall have equal representation on the district board. Each of the three members of the initial district board shall be groundwater permit holders who irrigate in the county. District board members shall serve without compensation.

Added by Laws 2019, c. 324, § 5, eff. Nov. 1, 2019.