FORUM: Legislature cuts into cities' powers

By John Lynn ---- Carlsbad resident | Tuesday, July 15, 2008 12:14 AM PDT ∞

On June 3, Carlsbad became the latest California city to adopt charter city status. Of the 480 cities in California, 112 are now charter cities. The list includes San Diego, Vista, San Marcos, and Del Mar.

But according to League of California Cities Deputy Executive Director Dwight Stenbakken, while there has been a steady growth in the number of cities deciding to become charter cities, there has been a matching erosion of the benefits of that status.

So why the change to charter city status?

"The answer, I would say, is that the state has gotten more intrusive into local affairs ... and the charter city is somewhat of a defense," said Betsy Strauss, a lawyer hired by Carlsbad to help produce a charter for the city, in an Oct. 18 North County Times news story.

That answer would probably apply to all cities that have found the Legislature in Sacramento increasingly intrusive.

Strauss then added that "a charter is a limited barrier to state intervention." That's the Achilles' heel of charter city status, because while a charter city can control "municipal affairs," it cannot control anything termed a "statewide concern," and that phrase is being interpreted very widely in Sacramento.

A recent check of the Web site for the League of California Cities provided a lengthy list of bills making their way through both the state Senate and the Assembly that would directly impact our cities and force charter cities further under the Legislature's thumb.

The wording "state-mandated local program" was found in several, as was wording that seeks to apply proposed legislation to charter cities as well as general law cities.

At the same time, the State Building and Construction Trades Council, AFL-CIO, an organization that represents California construction unions, is suing the city of Vista ---- a charter city ---- in an attempt to force the city to pay "prevailing wages" for public works projects.

Charter cities have traditionally been exempt from prevailing wage requirements on city-funded projects. That tradition is now being challenged.

The case argues that the prevailing wage law addresses "statewide concerns," so charter cities should not be allowed to ignore it. And since "prevailing wages" are essentially the wages paid to union workers, the city is being sued because it wants the right to choose contractors who don't employ union scale workers.

No decision has been reached in the Vista case as of this time, but the home-rule provision of the California Constitution authorizes a charter city to exercise plenary (i.e., absolute) authority over municipal affairs ---- thus supposedly exempt from "statewide concern" legislation.

Charter city status has its advantages, but those advantages are under attack and are being cut back as the Legislature and the courts take authority away from city government.

Our cities need to fight back. The League of California Cities needs to lead that fight.

John Lynn is a resident of Carlsbad.

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