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<br />00098~ <br /> <br />Not all boards are made up of agricultural interests; some are made up of professionals. <br /> <br />For example, members of the Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District Board Come from <br /> <br /> <br />credit institutions and have technical Sophistication and immense pOlitical influence.. This <br /> <br /> <br />particular board has a much broader perspective than typically found in agricultural boards, but <br /> <br /> <br />still may not represent the general community. These professional boards represent many <br /> <br />things including (1) demand and the idea that growth prompts demand; (2) the accumulation of <br /> <br />capital; and (3) their own political influence. This perspective is very different from the more <br /> <br />limited perspective of agricultural boards traditionally found in irrigation districts, Obviously, <br /> <br />different boards have different levels of political sophistication, <br /> <br />Another suggestion centered upon the creation of a database on irrigation districts, <br /> <br /> <br />What is our current database on the typology of irrigation districts, and does it allow us to <br /> <br /> <br />make any generalizations? For example, can we detennine the proportion and distribution of <br /> <br /> <br />sophisticated vs.more traditional boards? Some states includiilg California have a. good <br /> <br /> <br />database, but only on fiscal information. The Calitornia State Controller issues annual reports <br /> <br /> <br />on the financial transactions of the 879 water districts in California. In Ariwna, the database is <br /> <br /> <br />more descriptive of the powers of irrigation orgariizations.The consensus seems to be that this <br /> <br /> <br />is all we have, and it seems to be collected only at tbe state level. Even fiscal data ,- normally <br /> <br /> <br />the only type collected -- frequently is partial, dated, and unreliable due to varying <br /> <br />methodologies. This data will often not show many attributes considered important since it <br /> <br />excludes political and cultural variables. Maybe we need to come up with attributes for <br /> <br /> <br />classifying districts such as: (1) groundwater/surface water balances; (2) user fee or ad valorem <br /> <br />tax base; (3) elected or appointed ~ar~; (4) type and category of enab?ng legislation; (5) to <br /> <br /> <br />6 <br />