National League of Cities v. Brennan, Civ. A. No. 74-1812.

Decision Date31 December 1974
Docket NumberCiv. A. No. 74-1812.
PartiesThe NATIONAL LEAGUE OF CITIES, an Illinois Corporation, on behalf of its member cities, et al., Plaintiffs, and The State of California, By and Through Evelle J. Younger, Attorney General, on Behalf of the People of the State of California, et al., Plaintiffs-Intervenors, and The State of Indiana et al., Plaintiffs-Intervenors, v. The Honorable Peter J. BRENNAN, Secretary of Labor of the United States, Defendant.
CourtU.S. District Court — District of Columbia

Charles S. Rhyne, Washington, D. C., for plaintiffs.

Talmadge R. Jones, Deputy Atty. Gen., State of California, Sacramento, Cal., for plaintiffs-intervenors.

Nathan Dodell, Asst. U. S. Atty., Washington, D. C., for defendants.

Before LEVENTHAL, Circuit Judge, and GASCH and PARKER, District Judges.

PER CURIAM:

Petitioners, individual cities and states, the National League of Cities, and the National Governors' Conference, challenge the 1974 amendments to the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), Public Law 93-259, 88 Stat. 55, amending 29 U.S.C. § 201 et seq. (1970), as beyond the power of Congress under the Commerce Clause in that they purport to extend the coverage of the FLSA to nonsupervisory state and municipal employees, including police and firemen. The amendments generally went into effect on May 1, 1974; provisions relating to overtime pay of police and firemen become effective on January 1, 1975. Plaintiffs seek a declaratory judgment and temporary and permanent injunctive relief. Defendant opposed a temporary injunction, and moved to dismiss the action for failure to state a claim upon which relief can be granted. A three-judge district court was duly convened. We grant defendant's motion to dismiss the complaint.

Although plaintiffs have raised a difficult and substantial question of law, we feel that our decision is controlled by the decision of the Supreme Court in Maryland v. Wirtz, 392 U.S. 183, 88 S.Ct. 2017, 20 L.Ed.2d 1020 (1968).1. Upholding the constitutionality of an earlier extension of the FLSA to cover employees of state-operated schools and hospitals against an attack similar to that lodged here, Justice Harlan, writing for the court, found a sufficient and independent rational relationship of the provisions of the Act to interstate commerce in that state hospitals and schools were significant purchasers of out-of-state goods and that strikes and work stoppages involving their employees would consequently interrupt and burden the flow of goods across state lines. 392 U.S. at 194-95, 88 S.Ct. 2017. Since it is uncontested that the state and municipal institutions whose employees are reached for the first time by the 1974 Amendments do make substantial purchases in interstate commerce of equipment and other goods, the decision in Wirtz disposes of this case.

Although the theory described above was an explicitly independent ground for the decision, there is language in the opinion that stresses that the state competes with private institutions which also operate schools and hospitals.2 The institutions whose employees are in question here perform governmental functions, not seriously in competition with private industry. Moreover, there is evidence that the impact of the 1974 Amendments, in terms of confusing and complex regulations and an enormous fiscal burden on the states, is so extensive that it may seriously affect the structuring of state and municipal governmental activities by reducing flexibility to adapt to local and special circumstances, as through compensatory time off arrangements, rather than time and half overtime pay, and through other local governmental agreements.3

Plaintiffs contend that the amendments will mean either increase in local government fiscal requirements, or reduction in services and personnel, with layoffs, or both, due to provisions in state and municipal constitutions, charters, statutes and ordinances, like those against deficit financing. Plaintiffs further contend that a large part of the budgets of state and local governments reflect costs of non-supervisory personnel, and that the budgeting processes currently under way indicate that the amendments may have the practical impact of a large scale reconstitution of tours of duty, without any factual predicate showing that there has been in the past any substantial degree of either widespread labor unrest curtailing flow of interstate commerce or substandard wage scales. They contend that the amendments here will intrude upon the state's performance of essential governmental functions far more...

To continue reading

Request your trial
3 cases
  • National League of Cities v. Usery California v. Usery
    • United States
    • U.S. Supreme Court
    • 16 Abril 1975
    ...Fry v. United States, supra, distinguished; Maryland v. Wirtz, 392 U.S. 183, 88 S.Ct. 2017, 20 L.Ed.2d 1020, overruled. Pp. 852-855. 406 F.Supp. 826, reversed and Calvin L. Rampton, Salt Lake City, Utah, Charles S. Rhyne, Washington, D.C. for appellants. Sol. Gen. Robert H. Bork, Washington......
  • National League of Cities v. Marshall
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — District of Columbia
    • 25 Mayo 1977
    ...Listing in this Section will serve as a form of notice under the provisions of Section 775.2(b). 1 National League of Cities v. Brennan, D.C., 406 F.Supp. 826, 828 (1974), citing Maryland v. Wirtz, 392 U.S. 183, 88 S.Ct. 2017, 20 L.Ed.2d 1020 2 Allegheny County, supra, 544 F.2d at 154-56. 3......
  • IN THE MATTER OF F/V STANFORD MORSE
    • United States
    • U.S. District Court — Southern District of Mississippi
    • 21 Enero 1976
    ... ... Civ. A. No. S74-117 ... United States District ... Garner v. Cities Services Tankers Corporation, 456 F.2d 476 (5th ... ...

VLEX uses login cookies to provide you with a better browsing experience. If you click on 'Accept' or continue browsing this site we consider that you accept our cookie policy. ACCEPT