James v. Ball

• Decision Date: 12 October 1979
• Docket Number: No. 76-1918,76-1918
• Citation: 613 F.2d 180
• Parties: JAMES, Roland W., Fitzsimons, James R., Brahs, Dwight M., Sacco, Frank, and Maffeo, John H., on behalf of themselves and their respective classes, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. BALL, Germain H., Conovaloff, Alex M., Rousseau, Bill, Smith, Leo C., Williams, John M., Jr., Hurley, Thomas P., Schrader, William P., Hoopes, John S., Fitch, W. Larkin, and Finley, Thomas J., in their capacity as members of the Board of Dir., Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District, and Abel, Karl F., in his capacity as President of the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District, Defendants-Appellees.
• Court: U.S. Court of Appeals — Ninth Circuit

Page 180

613 F.2d 180

JAMES, Roland W., Fitzsimons, James R., Brahs, Dwight M., Sacco, Frank, and Maffeo, John H., on behalf of themselves and their respective classes, Plaintiffs-Appellants, v. BALL, Germain H., Conovaloff, Alex M., Rousseau, Bill,

Smith, Leo C., Williams, John M., Jr., Hurley, Thomas P.,

Schrader, William P., Hoopes, John S., Fitch, W. Larkin, and

Finley, Thomas J., in their capacity as members of the Board

of Dir., Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and

Power District, and Abel, Karl F., in his capacity as

President of the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement

and Power District, Defendants-Appellees.

No. 76-1918.

United States Court of Appeals, Ninth Circuit.

Oct. 12, 1979.

Rehearing Denied Feb. 6, 1980.

Bruce E. Meyerson, Phoenix, Ariz., for plaintiffs-appellants.

Jon L. Kyl, Jennings, Strouss & Salmon, Phoenix, Ariz., for defendants-appellees.

Appeal from the United States District Court for the District of Arizona.

Before CHOY and KENNEDY, Circuit Judges, and HALL, ^* District Judge.

KENNEDY, Circuit Judge:

This appeal, from an action commenced in the District of Arizona, challenges the constitutionality of Arizona statutes which provide that voting in elections for directors of the Salt River Project Agricultural and Improvement and Power District (the District) is limited to landowners, with votes essentially apportioned to owned acreage. The appellants are citizens of Arizona residing within the geographical boundaries of the District. Each appellant either rents land or owns less than one acre of land within the District and is thus excluded from the voting franchise. The action was brought under 42 U.S.C. § 1983. The Arizona statutes challenged are Ariz.Rev.Stat. §§ 45-909 and 45-983. ¹ The district court found those state statutes are consistent with the requirements of the fourteenth amendment and granted the District's motion for summary judgment. We reverse that determination. The district court also denied certification of the suit as a class action, and as to that aspect of the case we affirm.

I. Facts

Under the Reclamation Act of 1902, the Federal Government and the State of Arizona established a joint project for storage and delivery of water in the Salt River Valley. The project was limited to agricultural lands within the physical boundaries of the project.

The Federal Government built water storage and distribution facilities and hydroelectric facilities for the project. The Reclamation Act required that properties benefited by the project bear the costs of construction, and the Salt River Valley Waters Users' Association was organized, under Arizona corporate law, to pay those costs. Only persons holding project land could belong to the Association; only Association members could receive water from the project. The Association's obligations became pro rata liens on the lands of Association members.

By the 1930's the Association found the costs of financing project facilities overly burdensome. To alleviate this problem, the Salt River Project Agricultural Improvement and Power District was established. The District qualified as a municipal corporation. The District's bonds were eligible for tax-exempt status so that interest costs for the project were substantially reduced.

Under a 1937 agreement between the Association and the District, the Association agreed to continue to perform all obligations connected with the operation and maintenance of the project on behalf of the District. The Association also agreed to give title to project facilities to the District, subject only to whatever rights the federal government retained under the original transfer to the Association. The District agreed to provide whatever capital and operating funds the Association needed to operate project facilities. Pursuant to the 1937 agreement, the District now operates the water storage and distribution facilities. In addition the District generates electric power, and today the District is the second largest utility in Arizona. Ninety-eight percent of the District's total revenues are derived from electricity operations.

Arizona statutes mandate the voting system for the District. The District is subdivided into ten electoral divisions, each of which elects one director and three council members. A president and vice-president are elected at large. Qualified electors have votes for these offices apportioned according to the amount of land they hold. In addition, qualified voters elect two at-large directors (to become four in 1980) on a per-person voting basis. The twelve-member Board of Directors and thirty-member Council administer the District. ²

II. Equal Protection Claim

Since its decision in Reynolds v. Sims, 377 U.S. 533, 84 S.Ct. 1362, 12 L.Ed.2d 506 (1964), the Supreme Court has repeatedly applied the principle of one person-one vote, and it has invalidated restrictions on voter eligibility in many different types of elections. See Hill v. Stone, 421 U.S. 289, 95 S.Ct. 1637, 44 L.Ed.2d 172 (1975); City of Phoenix v. Kolodziejski, 399 U.S. 204, 90 S.Ct. 1990, 26 L.Ed.2d 523 (1970); Hadley v. Junior College District, 397 U.S. 50, 90 S.Ct. 791, 25 L.Ed.2d 45 (1970); Cipriano v. City of Houma, 395 U.S. 701, 89 S.Ct. 1897, 23 L.Ed.2d 647 (1969); Kramer v. Union Free School District, 395 U.S. 621, 89 S.Ct. 1886, 23 L.Ed.2d 583 (1969). The Court has on two occasions struck down laws that limit voting to landowners. City of Phoenix v. Kolodziejski, supra; Cipriano v. City of Houma, supra. In Salyer Land Co. v. Tulare Lake Basin Water Storage District, 410 U.S. 719, 93 S.Ct. 1224, 35 L.Ed.2d 659 (1973), however, the Supreme Court made an exception to Reynolds and upheld a state law which permitted only landowners to vote in an election to choose the directors of a water district. Because Salyer, and the companion case of Associated Enterprises, Inc. v. Toltec Watershed Improvement District, 410 U.S. 743, 93 S.Ct. 1237, 35 L.Ed.2d 675 (1973) (per curiam), are the only cases since Reynolds which permit this type of voter restriction, the arguments of the parties here focus largely on the applicability of Salyer to the case before us.

In Salyer, plaintiffs challenged the voting system for a water district that allowed only landowners to vote, with votes apportioned according to the assessed valuation of the land owned. The Supreme Court, after examining the nature of the service provided by the particular district, concluded that "by reason of its special limited purpose and of the disproportionate effect of its activities on landowners as a group," 410 U.S. at 728, 93 S.Ct. at 1229, the water storage district fell within an exception to Reynolds.

Critical to an understanding of Salyer is the factual setting of the case. The water district consisted of 193,000 acres, all of it agricultural land, 85% Farmed by one or another of four corporations. It had a total population of 77 residents. Assessments against landowners were the sole means of paying expenses of the District, so that landowners as a class bore the entire financial burden. Moreover, the reason for the District's existence and continued operation was to provide water for farming, Id. at 728, 93 S.Ct. 1224, and, as stressed by the Court, the primary effect of its operations was upon agricultural lands. Although the District had authority to undertake certain flood control activities, the Court found these powers were incident to the exercise of its primary functions of water storage and distribution. Id. at 728 n.8, 93 S.Ct. 1224 n.8. The Court specifically noted that the District provided "no other general public services such as schools, housing, transportation, utilities, roads, or anything else of the type ordinarily financed by a municipal body." Id. at 728-29, 93 S.Ct. at 1230.

The case at hand is quite different. Although at one time the Salt River District did bear some similarities to the district in Salyer, today the size and nature of the projects of the District and the effect of its operations on all of the residents of Arizona are far more extensive than those of the district in Salyer. The Salt River District is engaged in far-reaching electric power operations. It is the second largest electric utility in the State of Arizona and services nearly a quarter million persons. The utility owns five hydroelectric facilities and four steam generating plants; it is a partial owner of three coal-fired steam generating facilities; and it is a participant in the Palo Verde nuclear plant.

The water operations of the Salt River District are also significantly more diverse than those in Salyer. The District is not concerned solely with providing water for agriculture. Its formerly rural area encompasses today eight Arizona municipalities, including major portions of Phoenix. About 25% Of the total water delivered by the District goes to these cities for municipal uses, and an additional 15% Of the district water is delivered for other nonagricultural uses, such as schools, parks, playgrounds, and subdivision purposes. In view of the broad scope and impact of its activities the Salt River District cannot be characterized as having a special limited purpose.

Further, the activities of this District do not disproportionately affect landowners. Unlike Salyer, nearly 40% Of the water delivered by the District is used and paid for in a manner unrelated to agriculture or landownership. As to the electric operations, nearly all the citizens in the District are vitally affected in ways unrelated to ownership of real property. As the Supreme Court stated in Cipriano v. City of Houma, 395 U.S. 701, 705, 89 S.Ct. 1897, 1900, 23 L.Ed.2d 647 (1969) (per curiam), "the operation of the utility systems gas, water, and electric affects virtually every resident of the city." It is true that there are $290,000,000 of general obligation bonds outstanding that are secured by a lien on District lands....