State Building & Construction Trades Council of California v. City of Vista, D052181.
| Decision Date | 28 April 2009 |
| Docket Number | No. D052181.,D052181. |
| Court | California Court of Appeals Court of Appeals |
| Parties | STATE BUILDING AND CONSTRUCTION TRADES COUNCIL OF CALIFORNIA, AFL-CIO, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. CITY OF VISTA et al., Defendants and Respondents. |
Altshuler Berzon, Stephen P. Berzon, Scott A. Kronland and Peter E. Leckman for Plaintiff and Appellant.
Edmund G. Brown, Jr., Attorney General, Christopher E. Krueger, Assistant Attorney General, Douglas J. Woods and Peter M. Williams, Deputy Attorneys General, for State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, AFL-CIO, as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.
Davis, Cowell & Bowe and John J. Davis, Jr., for Northern California Mechanical Contractors Association, Air Conditioning, Refrigeration and Mechanical Contractors Association of Southern California, California Plumbing and Mechanical Contractors Association, California Sheet Metal Air Conditioning Contractors National Association, Associated Plumbing and Mechanical Contractors Association and Mechanical Contractors Council of Central California as Amici Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.
Weinberg, Roger & Rosenfeld, Sandra Rae Benson, Patricia M. Gates and Roberta D. Perkins for Northern California Basic Crafts Alliance as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Plaintiff and Appellant.
McDougal, Love, Eckis, Smith, Boehmer & Foley, James P. Lough, David M. Stotland; Darold D. Pieper, City Attorney, and Jonathan B. Stone, Deputy City Attorney, for Defendants and Respondents.
Atkinson, Andelson, Loya, Ruud & Romo, Robert Fried and W. Bryce Chastain for Associated Builders & Contractors of California as Amicus Curiae on behalf of Defendants and Respondents.
State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, AFL-CIO (SBCTC), appeals from a trial court judgment denying its petition for a peremptory writ of mandate against the City of Vista (Vista), Vista Mayor Morris B. Vance and Vista City Manager Rita Geldert.1 SBCTC sought a ruling requiring that Vista comply with California's prevailing wage law (PWL) (Lab. Code,2 §§ 1720-1780) in the construction of its public works projects notwithstanding its status as a charter city.
We conclude the PWL does not address matters of statewide concern and therefore Vista, as a charter city, is not required to comply with the PWL with respect to public works contracts which are financed solely from city revenues. Rather, such contracts are municipal affairs over which Vista has paramount power under article XI, section 5, subdivision (a) of the California Constitution. Accordingly, we affirm the trial court's judgment denying SBCTC's petition.
In June 2007 Vista became a charter city within the meaning of article XI, section 5 of the California Constitution after its voters approved a ballot measure to adopt a city charter.
At the time of the ballot measure, Vista was anticipating the construction of several capital improvement projects: (1) a new civic center; (2) two fire stations; (3) a new sports park; and (4) a stagehouse for the Moonlight Amphitheater. In advising the city council about the ballot measure, Vista's city attorney explained that the anticipated construction projects were "expected to cost in the neighborhood of $100 million," and "the payment of prevailing wages is likely to add millions of dollars in extra costs to these projects, costs that would not have to be incurred if Vista chooses its own destiny and becomes a charter city." Advocating for a vote in favor of the ballot measure, the Vista city council informed the public that if Vista became a charter city it "could choose when and if it pays `prevailing wages'" on public works contracts. The voters approved the measure and Vista became a charter city.
Shortly thereafter, the Vista city council adopted ordinance No. 2007-9. The ordinance amends Vista municipal code section 3.08.160 to provide:
Vista has proceeded with its planned public works projects. The record establishes that for the first of those projects—the two new fire stations— Vista has approved a design-build contract that does not comply with the requirements of the PWL.3
SBCTC alleges that it is a labor federation composed of local labor unions and local labor councils that collectively represent about 300,000 workers in the building and construction trades in California. In July 2007 SBCTC filed a petition for peremptory writ of mandate against Vista, its mayor and its city manager. Thereafter, SBCTC filed an amended petition (the petition).
The petition alleged Vista is required to comply with the PWL despite its status as a charter city and that "[a]s a result of the adoption of [Vista] Ordinance No. 2007-9, [Vista] will, unless this Court issues its writ of mandate, award contracts for the construction of ... Vista's upcoming capital projects, without requiring the payment of prevailing wages." The petition described the current status of the four capital improvement projects planned by Vista—the civic center, the two fire stations, the sports park, and the Moonlight Amphitheater stagehouse. With respect to the construction of the two new fire stations, the petition alleged Vista already had issued a request for proposals (RFP) to design-build firms, but that "[t]he RFP does not require that the prevailing wages must be paid to the workers who build the fire stations." The other projects were described as similarly proceeding toward implementation, with an RFP being issued for the Moonlight Amphitheater project, and an architect and a landscape architect being selected for the civic center and the sports park, respectively.
The petition prayed that the court issue (1) a peremptory writ of mandate "directing [Vista] to comply with California's prevailing wage law ... whenever they award City construction contracts in excess of $1,000, including by requiring the payment of prevailing wages in the contracts for [the two new fire stations]"; and (2) a declaration that Vista is "obligated to comply with California's prevailing wage law notwithstanding ... Vista's recent adoption of a charter, and that Vista Ordinance No. 2007-9 is invalid to the extent it forbids the inclusion of a prevailing wage requirement in ... Vista construction contracts in excess of $1,000, such as [the two new fire station] projects."
Vista answered the petition, and the parties filed memoranda of points and authorities.
In support of its position, SBCTC argued the PWL addressed a matter of statewide concern and thus Vista's decision to award public works contracts was not a "municipal affair" superseding all inconsistent state laws, regardless of whether the public works project at issue was a project of the municipality. (See art. XI, § 5.)
In opposing the petition, Vista argued SBCTC's challenge was premature and the controversy was "not ripe for adjudication" because SBCTC had not demonstrated "a current legal dispute." With respect to the merits, Vista argued, among other contentions, that the trial court was bound by long-standing precedent which has consistently held that the PWL does not embrace matters of statewide concern.
The trial court rejected Vista's argument that the controversy was not sufficiently ripe for resolution. The trial court noted Vista had approved certain public works project contracts under Vista Ordinance No. 2007-9 without complying with the PWL, including contracts for the construction of the two fire stations.4
Nonetheless, on the merits of the petition, the trial court agreed with Vista that existing precedent did not require that the city comply with the PWL and denied SBCTC's petition for peremptory writ of mandate.
SBCTC filed a timely notice of appeal from the judgment.
As a threshold matter, we reject Vista's argument that we should not decide the matter presented in this appeal because SBCTC "has brought a premature action that does not challenge any particular contract or language in Vista codes."
Vista argues that SBCTC's action is premature because "[t]his case has no concrete project, wage determination or specific fact pattern at issue." Vista asserts that SBCTC "cannot point to the performance of any act that Vista has violated wherein action must be compelled" and that SBCTC "has failed to allege any contract being let, or other action in violation of any California Labor Code provision it seeks to enforce" so that "there is no current legal dispute, only a potential future dispute." Furthermore, Vista claims that SBCTC's petition presents a "facial attack" to Vista Ordinance No. 2007-9 because it seeks a ruling that Vista must comply with the prevailing wage laws for all of its public works projects. According to Vista, this lawsuit impermissibly asserts a facial challenge based on a "hypothetical future situation[]." (See, e.g., Pacific Legal Foundation v. California Coastal Com. (1982) 33 Cal.3d 158, 170 [188 Cal.Rptr. 104, 655 P.2d 306] (Pacific Legal Foundation) [].)
(1) Vista's argument is essentially a challenge to the ripeness of this...
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