The following definitions shall control the construction of this article:
(a)
“Local agency” means any city, county, city and county, special district, or county service area.
(b)
“Commission” means the Public Utilities Commission.
(c)
“Privatization project” means any wastewater or sewerage project that is owned and operated by a corporation, partnership, or natural person pursuant to a franchise, license, or service agreement with a local agency or any agency of that local agency pursuant to which services are supplied for the benefit of the local agency, its residents, or both, or any agency of the state. “Privatization project,” as used in this article, includes the Santa Ana Watershed Project Authority’s Arlington Basin Groundwater Desalter Project, which will treat groundwater contaminated by wastewater.
(d)
“Project” includes, but is not limited to, financing, designing, constructing, repairing, replacing, maintaining, and operating collector systems, pumping stations, treatment plants, and lateral interceptors, and outfall sewers.
(e)
“Privatizer” means any corporation, partnership, or natural person, excluding municipal corporations, which owns and operates a wastewater or sewerage project pursuant to a franchise, license, or service agreement with a local agency.