S.D. Myers, Inc. v. City and County of San Francisco San Francisco Human Rights Commission

S.D. Myers, Inc. again challenges San Francisco’s Nondiscrimination in Contracts Ordinance (the “Ordinance”), S.F. Admin. Code Ch. 12B, a measure that requires all city contractors to provide equal benefits to their employees, regardless of marital or domestic partner status. This is not the first time Myers has asked us to strike down the Ordinance. In S.D. Myers, Inc. v. City & County of San Francisco, 253 F.3d 461 (9th Cir.2001) (Myers I), we upheld the Ordinance as consistent with state law, federal law, and the U.S. Constitution. We once again uphold the Ordinance, this time against a challenge of preemption by California Family Code §§ 297-299.6 (the “Registration Statute”), a recently-enacted state statute that governs the creation and registration of domestic partnerships.

I. Background

Myers I details the relevant facts and we recite them only as necessary to understand the nature of this appeal. In 1997, Myers, an Ohio-based corporation, submitted the lowest bid to service electrical transformers owned by the City of San Francisco (the “City”) but located outside of city boundaries in Northern California. See Myers I, 253 F.3d at 465 . To secure the service…