Howard Jarvis Taxpayers' Ass'n v. State Board of Equalization

This is an appeal from a judgment declaring that the Orange County Regional Justice Facilities Act (Gov. Code, § 26295 et seq.) and the County Regional Justice Facilities Financing Act (Gov. Code, § 26299.000 et seq.) are unconstitutional and invalid as in conflict with article XIII A, section 4, of the California Constitution (Proposition 13) and granting an injunction prohibiting the counties to which the Acts pertain from taking action to implement them.

The Acts provide for the adoption and implementation of local sales tax (retail transaction and use tax) ordinances to fund detention and courthouse facilities upon approval by the voters in specified counties.

We will determine that, with one exception, any such ordinance is invalid if not approved by two-thirds of the county’s voters, as required by Proposition 13. There is no warrant for relief beyond this declaration and we therefore reverse the judgment with appropriate directions.

Facts and Procedural Background

In 1989 the Legislature, declaring there to be a growing problem of overcrowded county jails, enacted the Acts. (Stats. 1989, ch. 1335, p. 5462.) The Orange County Act creates the Orange County…