Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Ass'n v. Amador Water Agency

*174 *283 Citizens submitted a referendum petition to challenge Amador Water Agency's Board Resolution No. 2015-19, adopting new water service rates for Agency customers. ( Cal. Const., art. II, § 9 [voters have referendum power to approve or reject state statutes except, e.g., tax levies]; Cal. Const., art. II, § 11 [referendum power may be exercised by city and county electors under procedures provided by Legislature]; Water Code App., § 95-3.8 [water agency has power to fix and collect rates and charges for its services];

*284 Water Code App., § 95-7.3 [water agency electors have initiative and referendum powers as to agency enactments].)

The Clerk of the Agency rejected the referendum petition and refused to place it on an election ballot, on the grounds that (1) the petition was "confusing," and (2) the rate change, while subject to challenge by initiative, is not subject to referendum. ( Elec. Code, §§ 9114, 9144 - 9146 [upon presentation of valid referendum petition, board shall repeal ordinance or submit it to voters at an election].)

Appellants Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, Charlotte Asher, and Laura Boggs appeal from the trial court's denial of their petition…

While I concur in the majority's opinion, I write separately to note two differences between this case and *191 Wilde v. City of Dunsmuir (2018) 29 Cal.App.5th 158 ( Wilde ).

First, in Wilde , the city's resolution changing water service rates included a major upgrade of the city's water delivery infrastructure. As we noted, "The new water rates are the product of a newly formulated set of policies that implemented a new set of choices: to replace a 105-year-old water storage tank as well as selected old water mains. [The plan] also represents policy choices about how to allocate the new infrastructure costs." ( Wilde , supra , 29 Cal.App.5th at p. 174 .) The proposed referendum challenged the entire resolution and "would have had the effect of reverting to the City's 1994 Water Rate Master Plan. [The] referendum would have prospectively cancelled the City's newly adopted master plan to spend $15 million on infrastructure and reallocation of water costs." ( Id. at pp. 176-177.)

*305 Thus, the Wilde referendum challenged both the new levy and the proposed infrastructure plan - not simply a statute providing "for tax levies or appropriations for usual current expenses of the…