Opinion No. (2000)

BILL LOCKYER Attorney General ANTHONY S. DA VIGO Deputy Attorney General THE HONORABLE ROBERT A. RYAN, JR., COUNTY COUNSEL, COUNTY OF SACRAMENTO, has requested an opinion on the following question: May a reclamation district pay a demand warrant that it had issued and previously extended if the warrant was not presented for reissuance or further extension prior to its expiration date? CONCLUSION A reclamation district may not pay a demand warrant that it had issued and previously extended if the warrant was not presented for reissuance or further extension prior to its expiration date. ANALYSIS We are informed that beginning in 1986, a reclamation district issued numerous demand warrants to generate approximately $2.5 million for the repair of the district's levee system. By March of 1994, it had repaid all of the warrants except for nine totaling $180,000. On July 31, 1994, the district extended the nine unpaid warrants for another four-year period ending on July 31, 1998. On September 2, 1998, the holder of the warrants ("bank"), which had not presented the unpaid warrants for payment, extension, or reissuance between July 31, 1994 and July 31, 1998, tendered the warrants to the…