Opinion ID: 3050323
Heading Depth: 3
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Hours-of-Operation Restriction

Text: [1] Fantasyland argues that the hours-of-operation restriction should be invalidated under the California Constitution based on People v. Glaze, 614 P.2d 291 (Cal. 1980), which struck down a similar hours-of-operation restriction under a test that was stricter than what the First Amendment requires. Indeed, as noted above, Fantasyland formally dropped its claim against this provision under the First Amendment and limited its challenge to the California Constitution. However, the California Supreme Court indicated in its response to our certified question that hours-of-operation restrictions are reviewed under intermediate scrutiny as applied by the United States Supreme Court. See Fantasyland Video, Inc. v. County of San Diego, No. 05-56026, S155408 (Cal. Sept. 25, 2007) (order denying request to decide a question of California law). That is the same standard identified in Renton, and the response to our certified question, including its citations to Los Angeles Alliance for Survival v. City of Los Angeles, 22 Cal. 4th 352, 357, 364 (2000); City of National City v. Wiener, 3 Cal. 4th 832, 841-43 (1992); and People v. Superior Court (Lucero), 49 Cal. 3d 14, 26 (1989), suggests to us that the standard under the California Constitution is the same in this situation as that applied by the United States Supreme Court in Renton. Under Renton, Fantasyland failed to supply sufficient evidence to “cast direct doubt” on the County’s asserted secondary-effects rationale. We conclude that the challenge under the California Constitution fails for the same reason. 13996 FANTASYLAND VIDEO v. COUNTY OF SAN DIEGO [2] At the legislative stage, the County relied on studies and reports, reported court decisions, and anecdotal testimony to establish a correlation between adult establishments and negative secondary effects.2 Based on this evidence, the County could reasonably infer that restricting the hours of operations for adult businesses would have the purpose and effect of reducing crime, disorderly conduct, traffic, and noise during late-night hours. Fantasyland’s attempt to cast doubt on the County’s conclusions fails as a matter of law because its expert, Daniel Linz, Ph.D., a professor in the Department of Communication’s Law and Society Program at the University of California Santa Barbara, did not rebut the County’s evidence with regard to noise and traffic. The evidence presented by Dr. Linz addressed only late night crime and property values. The County considered these factors, but its purported rationale for requiring adult businesses to close from 2:00am to 6:00am also included combating increased noise and traffic. Fantasyland’s failure to address these considerations is fatal under the second step of the Renton intermediate scrutiny analysis. See Alameda Books, Inc., 535 U.S. at 438-39. With regard to noise and traffic, Fantasyland failed as a matter of law “to cast direct doubt on [the County’s] rationale . . . by demonstrating that the [County’s] evidence does not support its rationale or by furnishing evidence that disputes [its] factual findings.” Id. Thus, the County’s hours-of-operation ordinance withstands intermediate scrutiny and Fantasyland’s challenge under the California Constitution fails.