Hill RHF Housing Partners, L.People v. City of Los Angeles

Opinion of the Court by Cantil-Sakauye, C. J.

State law provides for the formation of business improvement districts, or BIDs, through which services, activities, and improvements may be funded by assessments imposed on benefitted businesses or properties. When a BID is subsidized by assessments upon real property, these levies must comply with the Right to Vote on Taxes Act, an initiative measure more commonly known as Proposition 218. The question before us is whether courts will entertain arguments that a BID’s assessment scheme violates certain provisions of Proposition 218 when raised by a party who did not articulate these objections at the noticed public hearing at which protests regarding a BID are to be considered by lawmakers. (Cal. Const., art. XIII D, § 4, subd. (e); see also Gov. Code, § 53753, subd. (d).)1 In proceedings below, the Court of Appeal concluded that petitioners’ failure to present their objections to BIDs at the appropriate public hearings meant they had not exhausted their extrajudicial remedies, a lapse that prevented the court from deciding petitioners’ claims on the merits. We disagree. The opportunity to comment on a proposed BID does not involve…