Howard Jarvis Taxpayers' Ass'n v. Fresno Metropolitan Projects Authority

This case presents the issue of whether the retail transactions and use tax of one-tenth of 1 percent (popularly known as the “Arts to Zoo” tax) authorized by the Fresno Metropolitan Projects Act (Gov. Code, § 68056 et seq.) violates article XI, section 11, subdivision (a) of the California Constitution. The constitutional provision states: “The Legislature may not delegate to a private person or body power to make, control, appropriate, supervise or interfere with county or municipal corporation improvements, money or property, or to levy taxes or assessments, or perform municipal functions.”

The matter before us presents the inherent tension in the symbiotic relationship of the role of government, the democratically expressed will of the people, and the constraints of the California Constitution. We initially observe that neither government nor the people operate free from the strictures of our Constitution. In other words, sometimes the majority cannot impose its view because the Constitution restrains that action. This is because the Constitution is the ultimate social and legal contract. It allows the majority to promote its view so long as it does not interfere…