This article shall be known and may be cited as the Joint County Road Camp Act.

Any two or more counties may form a district for the purpose of requiring all persons confined in the county jails of such counties, under a final judgment of imprisonment rendered in a criminal action or proceeding, to perform labor on the public works or public highways in all or any of such counties, and to maintain for that purpose one or more joint county road camps in which such jail prisoners of any or all of said counties may work together.

Any district organized under this article shall have and exercise the powers expressly granted in this article, together with such other powers as are reasonably implied therefrom and necessary and proper to carry out the objects and purposes of this article.

The board of supervisors of any county may initiate proceedings proposing the creation of a joint district for the purpose of maintaining a joint county road camp or camps under the provisions of this article to be composed of two or more counties having a combined population of not less than 50,000 persons, according to the official census next preceding the formation of such district, by the adoption of a resolution reciting the following:

When adopted certified copies of the resolution provided for in Section 4203, shall be transmitted to the several clerks of the boards of supervisors in each of the counties named in the resolution other than that in which the proceedings are initiated.

Upon the adoption of the resolution provided for in Section 4203, the board of supervisors of the county adopting the same shall name and appoint a member of the board to represent the county upon the board of directors of the joint district proposed to be organized.

Upon receipt of the resolution adopted under Section 4203, the boards of supervisors of the counties affected and to whom the same may be directed shall consider the advisability of creating and organizing a joint district as proposed in said resolution and, upon determining the facts involved therein, shall severally adopt resolutions either rejecting or approving the proposal to create such joint district. Each resolution of approval shall, in addition to the matter otherwise required therein, also name and appoint the member of the board of supervisors of the county adopting the resolution qualified to represent such county upon the board of directors of the proposed joint district. A certified copy of the resolution of approval shall be forthwith transmitted to the clerk of the board of supervisors initiating the proceedings.

The board of supervisors of any county initiating proceedings for the creation of a joint district under this article shall, after the receipt of a copy of the resolution approving the proposal to form such district as provided in Section 4205 from the board of supervisors of each county proposed to be included within any such joint district, adopt a resolution declaring the creation and organization of said joint district and setting forth the names of the counties composing said district. A certified copy of the resolution shall be transmitted to and filed with the Secretary of State, whereupon the joint district shall be deemed created and organized and shall exercise all the powers granted in this article and shall bear the name and designation of “Joint County Road Camp District No. ________ of the State of California.”

All districts organized under this article shall be numbered in the order of their creation, the number to be assigned to said district forthwith upon the organization thereof by the Secretary of State, and the Secretary of State shall keep and maintain in his office a list and register showing the joint county road camp districts organized under this article.

The Secretary of State shall furnish and transmit to the clerk of the board of supervisors of the county adopting the initial resolution for the organization of any district under this article a certificate of the organization of the same. Upon receipt of the certificate the clerk shall within 10 days send a certified copy of the certificate to each of the clerks of the several boards of supervisors of the counties constituting the district, and shall also within the time specified in this section notify each supervisor appointed as a member of the board of directors of the district of such fact and of the time and place of the first meeting of the board of directors of the district. The time and place of the meeting shall be fixed and determined by the clerk of the board adopting the initial resolution, but said time of meeting shall be within 30 days after the date of mailing notices thereof. The necessary expense incurred by supervisors in attending and in going to and coming from any meeting of the board of directors of the district shall constitute a county charge of their respective counties.

The body formed under Section 4208 shall be called the board of directors of such district.

The delegates from each county may enter into an agreement with the other counties for and on behalf of the county appointing them, binding said counties to the joint enterprise provided for in this article and apportioning the cost of establishing and maintaining a road camp or camps, such cost to be apportioned on the basis of the population of the respective counties as determined by the official declaration of the State Legislature determining the population of counties next preceding such apportionment.

All sums found due from any county according to the provisions of this article are a debt against said county, and may be collected in the manner provided by law by the said board of directors of a district formed under this article, or, in its behalf, by the board of supervisors of any county in the district by an action instituted and tried in any county in the district in which the same may be first filed.

The board of directors may establish the road camp or camps provided for in this article, and may furnish such camp or camps with the necessary personnel and equipment to transport, feed, clothe, shelter and lodge the prisoners who shall work therein and with the necessary hand tools and appliances for their work, and may employ one or more persons to supervise the camp and the work of the prisoners.

Each county in a district formed under this article shall pay from its general fund its proportionate share to the board of directors of such amount as the board may designate to constitute a cash revolving fund to carry on the work and expense of maintaining such camp or camps. Each month a statement of the expense of the camp shall be sent to the board of supervisors of each county in the district, together with a claim for its proportionate share of expenses. Amounts when received shall be paid into the cash revolving fund.

Within 15 days after any person is confined in the county jail of any county within a district under a final judgment of imprisonment rendered in a criminal action or proceeding, the county parole commissioners of such county shall meet and determine whether he should be paroled to work in the joint county road camps established under this article. If it appears to the commissioners that a prisoner is a fit subject for parole to a camp formed under this article, they shall forthwith parole him with the requirement that he perform labor in such joint county road camp wherever it may then be situated, or may thereafter be moved to during his term of imprisonment, and he shall forthwith be transferred by the sheriff of the county in which he is confined to said road camp at the expense of the county in which he was sentenced to imprisonment.

The boards of directors of joint county road camp districts may contract with the State Department of Public Works for the employment of jail prisoners in the construction, improvement, or maintenance of any portion of any state highway now existing, to be constructed, or under construction within said district and may also contract with any board of supervisors or with any supervisor of any road district, within said district, for the employment of jail prisoners on any county road or county public work within any county or road district lying within any district created under this article.

When the prisoners of a road camp are engaged in the construction or maintenance of any portion of the state highway the expense of maintaining them together with the compensation of such prisoners fixed by the board of directors as provided in this article, and the expense of supervision and maintenance of the road camp and the prisoners thereof, shall be paid for by the district and the State Department of Public Works upon such terms and in such proportions as may be agreed upon by the Department of Public Works and the district.

Any money expended by the Department of Public Works under the provisions of this article shall be taken from any funds available for the construction or maintenance of the highway upon which the prisoners of the district labor.

The State Department of Public Works may contract with the boards of directors of the joint districts created under this article for all the purposes stated in this article.

When a joint road camp, and the prisoners thereof, are employed in the construction or maintenance of any county way, road or public work, the total expense of maintenance, operation and supervision, of said camp, and the compensation of the prisoners thereof shall be paid for from any funds which may be available for the construction or maintenance of such road, highway or other public works on which said prisoners are employed, or from the county general fund upon a four-fifths vote of the board of supervisors of said county.