Consulting Engineers & Land Surveyors of California v. Department of Transportation

Article VII of California’s Constitution (hereafter Article VII) defines “civil service” as the workforce of state government hired and promoted “under a general system based on merit ascertained by competitive examination.” (Art. VII, § 1.) It applies to every officer and employee of state government, other than the positions listed in section 4 of Article VII.

Courts have held, with certain exceptions, that Article VII impliedly forbids the state from contracting for private companies to perform the kind of services that persons selected through the civil service system could perform “adequately and competently.” (State Compensation Ins. Fund. v. Riley (1937) 9 Cal.2d 126, 135 [ 69 P.2d 985 ]; see also Professional Engineers v. Department of Transportation (1997) 15 Cal.4th 543, 549-550 . [ 63 Cal.Rptr.2d 467 , 936 P.2d 473 ]; California State Employees’ Assn. v. State of California (1988) 199 Cal.App.3d 840, 844-846 [ 245 Cal.Rptr. 232 ].)

In response to one such holding, California voters adopted Proposition 35 in November 2000. Entitled the “Fair Competition and Taxpayer Savings Act,” Proposition 35 added Article XXII to the California Constitution (hereafter…