Washington v. BOARD OF SUPERVISORS OF SAN DIEGO CTY.

In January 1992 the San Diego County Board of Supervisors enacted an ordinance (San Diego County Admin. Code, § 257.2) directed to the eligibility for general relief benefits of employable single claimants. Benefits payable to eligible recipients prior to the enactment of the ordinance were not time-limited. The ordinance changed eligibility by providing that “[o]therwise eligible employable recipients shall become ineligible to receive General Relief benefits after receiving three months of benefits within any twelve-month period.”

The Legal Aid Society of San Diego, representing several specific beneficiaries of the general relief program, promptly brought an action seeking a *983 declaration of invalidity of the ordinance. In due course the action was certified as a class action for the benefit of all persons who would have their general relief benefits limited under the ordinance.

The superior court issued a temporary restraining order precluding the county from implementing the ordinance, but after the order to show cause hearing declined to issue a preliminary injunction, concluding that the plaintiffs probably would not prevail on the merits. Writ proceedings…

The per curiam opinion issued in this case is indisputably correct, in my opinion. It fails, however, to address the issue the parties apparently conceived to be central to the case. This issue is whether the county under any circumstance can short its obligations to the general welfare program when it is in financial extremes. It is proper and in keeping with judicial restraint that we avoid unnecessary rulings, that we limit our appellate conclusions to those necessary to resolve the case, and that we not attempt resolution of issues which are potential but not currently actual. (See Witkin, Manual on Appellate Court Opinions (1977) § 86, pp. 155-157.)

However, our brief opinion, although written with care to avoid an inferential ruling on the issue so strenuously argued, may nevertheless be taken by some as a complete rejection by this court of the entirety of the county’s position. This is not the case so far as I am concerned, and I write this concurring opinion to more fully explain my position.

*987 An effort to focus more precisely on the county’s position requires that I lay as a foundation the factual and legal setting of the case. Were we to conclude as a matter of…

THE COURT [1]

In January 1992 the San Diego County Board of Supervisors enacted an ordinance (San Diego County Admin. Code, § 257.2) directed to the eligibility for general relief benefits of employable single claimants. Benefits payable to eligible recipients prior to the enactment of the ordinance were not time-limited. The ordinance changed eligibility by providing that "[o]therwise eligible employable recipients shall become ineligible to receive General Relief benefits after receiving three months of benefits within any twelve-month period."

The Legal Aid Society of San Diego, representing several specific beneficiaries of the general relief program, promptly brought an action seeking a declaration of invalidity of the ordinance. In due course the action was certified as a class action for the benefit of all persons who would have their general relief benefits limited under the ordinance.

The superior court issued a temporary restraining order precluding the county from implementing the ordinance, but after the order to show cause hearing declined to issue a preliminary injunction, concluding that the plaintiffs probably would not prevail on the merits. Writ…