Regulatory Requirements

Zone Elections (Districting)

The Pajaro Valley Health Care District (District) currently has an "at-large" electoral system; the entire jurisdiction votes for each member of the District Board of Directors. To be compliant with Senate Bill 418 and the California Health & Safety Code, the District is change to a "by-zone" election system; where the jurisdiction is divided into zones, a Board candidate must reside within an election zone and is elected only by voters residing within that election zone.

To learn more about this process, please visit www.drawpajaro.org.

PUBLIC HEARING NOTICE

In accordance with Health and Safety Code Section 32498.6, Elections Code Section 10010, and Health and Safety Code Section 32100.1, the Board of Directors of the Pajaro Valley Health Care District will hold public hearings on the topic of the transition to by-zone elections on the following date(s):

Wednesday, August 27, 2025, after 5:15 pm
Wednesday, September 24, 2025, after 5:15 pm
Wednesday, October 29, 2025, after 5:15 pm
Wednesday, November 19, 2025, after 5:15 pm

The meetings will be held at the Pajaro Valley Health Trust Community Room, 85 Nielson Street, Watsonville, CA 95076.

At the public hearings on August 27 and September 24, the public is invited to provide input regarding the composition of the zones. Following the second public hearing, draft maps of potential Board Member election zone boundaries will be published on or before October 22, for consideration and public input at the third and fourth public hearings. At the October 29 and November 19 hearings the public is invited to provide input regarding the content of the draft maps and the sequence of elections.

All interested parties are invited to attend the public hearing(s) and express opinions or submit information. If you have any questions, residents are invited to call (831) 724-4741 or send an email to zones [at] pvhcd.org (zones[at]pvhcd[dot]org).

Information about zone elections, why the District is making this change and the process is available on the District website, www.drawpajaro.org.

The Brown Act

The Ralph M. Brown Act governs meetings conducted by local legislative bodies, such as boards of supervisors, city councils and special districts like the Pajaro Valley Health Care District. The Act represents the California Legislature’s determination of how the balance should be struck between public access to meetings of multi-member public bodies on the one hand and the need for confidential candor, debate, and information gathering on the other.

The Brown Act ensures public access to District meetings. For example, the times and dates of all meetings must be noticed and an agenda must be prepared providing a brief general description of all matters to be discussed or considered at the meeting. As a general rule, information given to a majority of the board members in connection with an open meeting must be equally available to members of the public. Before or during consideration of each agenda item, the public must be given an opportunity to comment on the item. While the Brown Act creates broad public access rights to the meetings of legislative bodies, it also recognizes the legitimate needs of government to conduct some of its meetings outside of the public eye. Closed session meetings are specifically defined and are limited in scope. They primarily involve topics such as personnel issues, pending litigation, labor negotiations or real property acquisitions.

California Public Records Act

The California Public Records Act (CPRA) requires that government records be disclosed to the public, upon request, unless there are privacy and/or public safety exemptions which would prevent doing so. Please see the California Attorney General’s Office Summary of the California Public Records Act (pdf) for additional information.

If you would like to request access to a public record from the Pajaro Valley Health Care District, please make your request on our Contact Us page, and specify that you are making a public records request.

Title 22

In California, healthcare districts are primarily regulated by Title 22 of the California Code of Regulations (CCR), which outlines comprehensive health and safety standards for licensed care facilities, including staffing, infrastructure, healthcare procedures, and resident rights; these regulations are enforced by the California Department of Public Health (CDPH) and apply to all aspects of a healthcare district's operations, including patient care, facility maintenance, and staff qualifications.