State Building & Construction Trades Council v. City of Vista

I. FACTS

In 2006, the voters of the City of Vista in San Diego County approved a .5 percent sales tax to fund the construction and renovation of several public buildings. The proposed projects involved the seismic retrofit of an existing fire station and the construction of two new fire stations, a new civic center, a new sports park, and a new stagehouse for the city‟s Moonlight Amphitheatre. At that time, Vista was a general law city.1 In February 2007, the Vista City Attorney submitted a report to the city council recommending that Vista take steps to become a charter city. The report asserted that the conversion would give the city the option of not paying prevailing wages on its planned public works projects, “result[ing] in millions of dollars of savings over the next few years and beyond.” The Vista City Council then authorized a special election for residents of the city to vote on a ballot measure that would change Vista from a general law city into a charter city. In the voter information pamphlet, the “City Attorney Impartial Analysis” told the voters that, as a charter city, Vista‟s city council “replaces the state legislature with regard to the municipal affairs of…

*552 Opinion

A charter city entered into certain contracts for the construction of public buildings. A federation of labor unions then petitioned the superior court for a peremptory writ of mandate, asserting that the city must comply with California’s prevailing wage law notwithstanding local ordinances stating otherwise. The prevailing wage law requires that certain minimum wage levels be paid to contract workers constructing public works.

Under the state Constitution, the ordinances of charter cities supersede state law with respect to “municipal affairs” (Cal. Const., art. XI, § 5), but state law is supreme with respect to matters of “statewide concern” (California Fed. Savings & Loan Assn. v. City of Los Angeles (1991) 54 Cal.3d 1, 17 [ 283 Cal.Rptr. 569 , 812 P.2d 916 ] (California Fed. Savings)). Here, petitioner contends that the subject matter of the state’s prevailing wage law is a “statewide concern” over which the state has primary legislative authority. (Ibid.) The city responds that the matter is a municipal affair and therefore governed by its local ordinances. We agree with the city.

I. Facts

In 2006, the voters of the City of Vista in San Diego County approved…

This case requires that we resolve a dispute between the Legislature and a charter city, two entities granted specific lawmaking authority by our state Constitution. On the one hand, “[t]he legislative power of this State is vested in the California Legislature which consists of the Senate and Assembly . . . .” (Cal. Const., art. IV, § 1.) The state Legislature wields “the entire law-making authority of the state, except the people’s right of initiative and referendum” and “may exercise any and all legislative powers which are not expressly or by necessary implication denied to it by the Constitution.” (Methodist Hosp. of Sacramento v. Saylor (1971) 5 Cal.3d 685, 691 [ 97 Cal.Rptr. 1 , 488 P.2d 161 ].) On the other hand, under what is alternately called the “municipal home rule” or “municipal affairs” doctrine, charter cities are empowered to “make and enforce all ordinances and regulations in respect to municipal affairs,” and such ordinances “shall supersede all laws inconsistent therewith.” (Cal. Const., art. XI, § 5, subd. (a).)

In this case, the Legislature exercised its lawmaking powers to enact sections 1720 to 1861 of the Labor Code, commonly referred to as the prevailing…

I join Justice Werdegar’s dissent. I write separately to highlight additional shortcomings in the court’s analysis that prevent it from properly resolving this case.

The court holds that article XI, section 5 of the California Constitution, the municipal home rule provision, bars the Legislature from requiring charter cities to pay prevailing wages to construction workers on public works projects. While generally stating the applicable law correctly, the court fails to bridge the wide analytical gap between that law and the result it reaches. The court employs a vague analysis that puts great weight on a few factors while refusing to consider other factors that the opinion itself concedes are pertinent to determining whether the prevailing wage law should apply to charter cities. As a result, no clear legal principle emerges from the court’s opinion, even as it repeatedly insists that the issue before us is a question of law.

Today’s decision is a misstep as a matter of method as well as result. Unlike cases where a state law limits a municipal prerogative specifically protected by constitutional text, the instant dispute is one “with no unmistakable signs to guide us between…