Zolly

Opinion of the Court by Liu, J.

Through a series of ballot initiatives, California voters have imposed several constitutional limitations on the ability of local governments to tax. Because these limitations may apply to charges that a local government does not formally designate as taxes, whether particular charges fall within the scope of the Constitution’s taxation limitations is a recurring issue that both voters and the courts have addressed. In 2012, the City of Oakland approved two contracts granting private waste haulers the right to “transact business, provide services, use the public street and/or other public places, and to operate a public utility” for waste collection services. As “consideration for the special franchise right,” the waste haulers agreed to pay certain fees to Oakland. We granted review to decide how such fees should be treated under article XIII C of the California Constitution, which sets forth voter approval requirements that apply to taxes imposed by local government. (All references to articles are to the California Constitution.) Oakland claims that article XIII C, as amended in 2010 by Proposition 26, categorically exempts its challenged fees…