Griffith

Petitioner Harold Griffith filed a petition for writ of mandate seeking to invalidate an ordinance enacted by respondent City of Santa Cruz (City). The ordinance calls for annual inspections of all residential rental properties within City limits. Petitioner argued, among other things, that the ordinance is preempted by the State Housing Law (Health & Saf. Code, § 17910 et seq.), 1 violates constitutional principles of privacy and equal protection, and imposes a tax in violation of Proposition 218 (Cal. Const., art. XIII D) and Proposition 26 (Cal. Const., art. XHI C, § 1, subd. (e)). The superior court denied the petition. Finding no error, we shall affirm.

I. The Ordinance

City passed ordinance No. 2010-17, the Residential Rental Dwelling Unit Inspection and Maintenance Program (the Ordinance), on September 7, 2010, and codified it as section 21.06.010 et seq. of the City of Santa Cruz Municipal Code (SCMC). The purpose of the Ordinance is to identify “substandard and unsafe residential buildings and dwelling units and to ensure the rehabilitation or elimination of those buildings and dwelling units that do not meet minimum building code and housing code standards, or…