Merriman

Earlene Merriman, Michael Shapiro, Rick Johnson, Ward Sharrer, and Rex McClellan appeal from a judgment denying a petition for a writ of mandate. They were proponents of a referendum petition presented to the Mendocino County Board of Supervisors (hereafter, Board). The Board had enacted an ordinance which made violations of the Mendocino County building code (see Health & Saf. Code, § 17958) punishable as infractions. The referendum petition sought repeal of the ordinance or its submission to the voters at the November 4, 1980, General Election. (See Elec. Code, § 3754.) The petition contained the required number of signatures. (Elec. Code, § 3753.) The Board, however, took no action on the referendum petition. The superior court denied appellant’s petition for a writ of mandate on the basis that the challenged ordinance was administrative and thus beyond the scope of the referendum process.

The People’s reserved power of referendum (Cal. Const., art. n, § 9) is to be liberally construed to uphold the power whenever it is reasonable to do so. (Associated Home Builders etc., Inc. v. City of Livermore (1976) 18 Cal.3d 582, 591 [ 135 Cal.Rptr. 41 , 557 P.2d 473 , 92…