Davies

This case involves the question whether the respondent Contractors’ State License Board (Board) erred in its classification procedure by allowing licensed plumbing contractors to install fire protection systems. We hold that it did not.

On June 13, 1975, appellants filed in the Superior Court in and for the County of San Francisco a petition for a writ of mandate on behalf of themselves and other California members of two associations, the associations being composed of contractors who install fire sprinkler systems. Named as respondents in the petition were the Board, the registrar thereof, and the individual members of the Board. The superior court thereupon issued an alternative writ. On August 4, 1975, the California Legislative Conference of the Plumbing, Heating and Piping Industry, a trade association, filed a complaint in intervention. For reasons that will become obvious, intervener aligned itself with the Board.

The Statutory Scheme

Heretofore, the Legislature enacted the Contractors’ License Law (Law). (Bus. & Prof. Code, § 7000 et seq.) The Law is administered by the Board, composed, at the times relevant here, of either nine or eleven members, most of whom…