City & Cnty. of S.F. v. Proposition G
| Decision Date | 26 July 2021 |
| Docket Number | A160659 |
| Citation | 66 Cal.App.5th 1058,282 Cal.Rptr.3d 17 |
| Parties | CITY AND COUNTY OF SAN FRANCISCO, Plaintiff and Respondent, v. ALL PERSONS INTERESTED IN the MATTER OF PROPOSITION G, Defendants and Appellants. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
Counsel for Appellants: Greenberg Traurig: Bradley R. Marsh, San Francisco, and Colin W. Fraser, Irvine
Counsel for Amicus Curiae on behalf of Appellants: Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Foundation; Jonathan M. Coupal, Timothy A. Bittle, Sacramento, Laura E. Dougherty
Counsel for Respondents: Dennis J. Herrera, City Attorney; Wayne K. Snodgrass, Deputy City Attorney
Proposition 13 and Proposition 218 amended the California Constitution to require that any special tax adopted by a local government entity take effect only if approved by a two-thirds vote of the electorate. We recently interpreted these constitutional provisions "as coexisting with, not displacing, the people's power to enact initiatives by majority vote." ( City and County of San Francisco v. All Persons Interested in the Matter of Proposition C (2020) 51 Cal.App.5th 703, 708, 265 Cal.Rptr.3d 437 ( Matter of Prop. C ).) In Matter of Prop. C we held that a measure placed on the ballot as a local citizens’ initiative requires a majority, not a supermajority, vote to pass. ( Id . at pp. 708–709, 265 Cal.Rptr.3d 437.) This case raises the questions whether Matter of Prop. C was properly decided and whether it can be distinguished.
In 2018, some 60 percent of San Franciscans voting on Proposition G—an initiative measure entitled "Parcel Tax for San Francisco Unified School District"—approved the measure. Thereafter, the City and County of San Francisco (the City) filed this action to establish that Proposition G was validly enacted. The City's complaint against "All Persons Interested" was answered by defendant Wayne Nowak, who contends that Proposition G is invalid because it failed to garner the two-thirds vote required by article XIII A, section 4 of the California Constitution1 (added by Proposition 13) and article XIII C, section 2 (added by Proposition 218), the same arguments we rejected in Matter of Prop. C . Nowak also contends that a provision of Proposition 218 unique to parcel taxes—article XIII D, section 3, subdivision (a) (art. XIII D, § 3(a))—requires a two-thirds vote of the electorate to enact Proposition G. Although the argument is new, it fails for similar reasons, as does Nowak's alternative argument that an older constitutional provision precludes a per-parcel tax on real property. Finally, Nowak seeks to distinguish Matter of Prop. C on the grounds that Proposition G was conceived and promoted by local government officials and is thus not a valid citizens’ initiative. We reject this argument as based on a misunderstanding of the initiative process.
Because we stand by our decision in Matter of Prop. C and reject Nowak's additional arguments, we affirm the trial court's grant of summary judgment to the City.
In September 2018, the City filed a complaint to validate Proposition G, seeking a judicial declaration that Proposition G was "duly enacted by the voters ... and is legal, valid and binding." (See Code Civ. Proc., § 867 et seq. ) The complaint describes Proposition G as a proposal to authorize the City to collect an annual parcel tax, with all revenues from the tax to be transferred to the San Francisco Unified School District (District) and placed in a fund for restricted uses, including paying teacher salaries and funding staff at high-needs schools. The City alleges that proponents of Proposition G circulated petitions to the San Francisco electorate, qualifying the measure for placement on the ballot in the June 5, 2018 election. The City also alleges that Proposition G was "legally and validly adopted" because its passage required only a simple majority of votes cast and it "received the affirmative votes of 60.76% of the 238,133 San Francisco voters who voted on the measure."
In his answer to the complaint, Nowak admits the City's description of Proposition G is accurate and that it was approved by 60.76 percent of the voters, but he denies that Proposition G was legally and validly adopted. Nowak alleges that Proposition G violates state constitutional requirements precluding local government from imposing a special tax absent approval of a two-thirds vote of the electorate. (Art. XIII A, § 4; Art. XIII C, § 2, subd. (d) (art. XIII C, § 2(d)); Art. XIII D, § 3(a).)
Nowak also alleges that Proposition G represents an invalid attempt by the District to evade the constitution's supermajority vote requirement. According to this theory, the District and "its union," the United Educators of San Francisco (Union), agreed to a "16 percent pay increase for union employees that was contingent upon additional revenue being approved by San Francisco voters." Then, instead of the District proposing "its own tax," the "union members and others crafted ... Proposition G as a citizen initiative," so they could argue that it was "subject to only a 50% vote threshold." Nowak alleges that this "deliberate action to reduce the vote threshold requirement is impermissible."
In May 2020, the trial court heard cross-motions for summary judgment and granted judgment to the City. In a 20-page order, the court found the material facts to be undisputed and concluded that Proposition G was validly enacted by a majority of the voting electorate.
In February 2017, the District and Union began negotiating the terms of their 2017–2020 labor contract. During an initial meeting, both the District and Union expressed the view that " ‘teachers deserve and will receive a raise, the question is how the funds for the raise will be realized.’ " The District " ‘expressed its willingness to work collaboratively with the Union to find’ " a solution. In the following months, the District considered raising funds via a parcel tax measure to be placed on the ballot in 2018, discussed that option with the Union, and participated with Union representatives and "political consultants" in a Parcel Tax Planning Committee.
By Autumn 2017, the District and Union were considering whether the parcel tax could be proposed as a citizens’ initiative. In late November, an attorney named James Sutton circulated to the planning committee and others a confidential draft of a citizens’ initiative measure proposing the parcel tax. A deputy superintendent of the District who served on the planning committee proposed edits to Sutton's draft.
On December 8, 2017, the San Francisco Department of Elections (Department) received a "Notice of Intention to Circulate Petitions" for a proposed citizens’ initiative, which was accompanied by the proposed text of Proposition G. The notice of intent was signed by three San Francisco voters: Jose Tengco, David Strother, and Catherine Sullivan. Later that month, the Department received documentation establishing "Proof of Publication" of the notice of intent, ballot title and initiative summary. The proof of publication, which was submitted by the Sutton Law Group, reflects that the text of the published notice identified Tengco, Strother and Sullivan as the official proponents of Proposition G.
Union representatives had asked Tengco, Strother and Sullivan to serve as proponents of Proposition G. The three individuals did not participate in drafting Proposition G, and they did not personally pay any of the filing fees. Strother did not even read the ballot measure before agreeing to serve as a proponent, though he understood the Union was organizing to put Proposition G on the ballot because if the District sponsored the measure it would require a two-thirds vote to pass. Tengco, after becoming a proponent, attended meetings and had discussions about the parcel tax, and he gathered signatures to get Proposition G on the ballot.
Sullivan "turned in to the Department initiative petitions signed by a reported 16,656 San Francisco voters." After reviewing a random sampling of signatures, the Department certified to Sullivan that the petitions contained a sufficient number of valid signatures to qualify Proposition G for the ballot. Proposition G appeared as a citizens’ initiative on the San Francisco ballot for the June 5, 2018 Consolidated Statewide Primary Election and received 60.76 percent affirmative votes.
The trial court framed its May 2020 summary judgment order to address three theories Nowak presented in support of his contention that Proposition G was invalid.
First, Nowak claimed that Proposition G is not a valid citizens’ initiative within the meaning of the City's charter because the three individuals who signed the notice of intent were not genuine proponents. Based on evidence the District worked with the Union and others to get Proposition G passed, Nowak argued that Proposition G was the District's " ‘product,’ " and that the District had misappropriated the people's power to propose initiatives. The trial court rejected this claim as "irreconcilable" with the plain language of the City Charter and governing provisions of the Elections Code.
The court reasoned that the Charter empowers San Francisco voters to "enact initiatives" (S.F. Charter, § 14.100), and provides that an initiative may be proposed by "presenting to the Director of Elections a petition containing the initiative and signed by voters in a number equal to at least five percent of the votes cast" in the preceding mayoral election (S.F. Charter, § 14.101). Here, the court found, undisputed evidence establishes that Proposition G satisfied these requirements. The court also rejected as groundless Nowak's claim that the three individuals who signed the notice of intent to circulate petitions on behalf of Proposition G were not its "proponents." The...
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