Court Opinion

ID: 9721278
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-26 08:54:48.300173+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T18:24:24.208691
License: Public Domain

*677CALDECOTT, J.
I dissent.
This annexation was pursuant to the Annexation of Uninhabited Territory Act of 1939 (Gov. Code, § 35300 et seq.); “uninhabited territory” being territory in which fewer than 12 registered voters reside. (Gov. Code, § 35303.) Petitioner is not challenging the procedure by which the city council approved Resolution No. 6076, the annexation resolution, but seeks only to have the resolution submitted to a referendum vote. The city council, however, rejected the referendum petition on the basis of the city attorney’s advice that Resolution No. 6076 was not a proper subject for referendum.
Article IV, section 1 of the Constitution of California provides “[t]he legislative power of this State is vested in the California Legislature which consists of the Senate and Assembly, but the people reserve to themselves the power of initative and referendum.” The power of initiative and referendum, thus, is a power reserved to the people, not a granted power. (Ley v. Dominguez, 212 Cal. 587, 593 [299 P. 713].) Such legislative powers will be liberally construed to uphold the power wherever reasonable. (Collins v. City & Co. of S. F., 112 Cal.App.2d 719 [247 P.2d 362].) There are, however, necessary limitations upon the application of the initiative and referendum. As stated in Newsom v. Board of Supervisors, 205 Cal. 262, 271 [270 P. 676], “[a] determination that direct legislation was not intended to apply to all actions of subordinate governmental bodies involving in part the exercise of the legislative function is not new in this state.” In tine with this policy the courts have held that the right to initiative and referendum does not apply where the action is administrative or executive, as distinguished from legislative (Simpson v. Hite, 36 Cal.2d 125 [222 P.2d 225]); where the act is special or local in its nature (Hopping v. Council of City of Richmond, 170 Cal. 605 [150 P. 977]); if an essential governmental function would be seriously impaired (Geiger v. Board of Supervisors, 48 Cal.2d 832 [313 P.2d 545]); and when, in a matter of statewide concern, the Legislature has specifically delegated authority to the local governing board (Mervynne v. Acker, 189 Cal.App.2d 558 [11 Cal.Rptr. 340]). It is with this last circumstance that we are particularly concerned in the present case.
The Supreme Court in People v. City of Long Beach, 155 Cal. 604, 610 [102 P. 664], stated: “. . . the annexation of territory to a city is not a municipal affair, within the meaning of section 6 [article XI of the Con*678stitution],1 but is a matter pertaining to the state at large and within its general powers and functions, and hence, that the general law upon that subject controls.” (See also People v. Oakland, 123 Cal. 598, 604 [56 P. 445]; People v. Town of Ontario, 148 Cal. 625 [84 P. 205]; County of Los Angeles v. City Council, 202 Cal.App.2d 20 [20 Cal.Rptr. 363]; County of San Mateo v. City Council, 168 Cal.App.2d 220 [335 P.2d 1013].)
In Mervynne v. Acker, supra, the court discussed the problem of whether the Legislature had delegated to the local governing board of the city as distinguished from the voters the power to establish parking meter zones. In Mervynne, the city council had enacted ordinances providing for parking meters. An initiative petition proposing an ordinance to repeal the parking meter ordinances was submitted to the city. The city refused to process the petition on the ground that the proposed ordinance to repeal was not a proper subject for initiative. Vehicle Code section 22508, under which the city council had enacted the ordinance, provides “[ljocal authorities [which term is defined in Vehicle Code section 385 to mean the legislative body of a city or municipality] may by ordinance provide for the establishment of parking meter zones, ...” The court held that the Legislature by the careful wording of section 22508, literally and specifically, delegated the power over parking meter traffic regulation to the city council, stating at page 562 that “[w]hen, in a matter of statewide concern, the state Legislature has specifically delegated a particular authority to the governing board, our courts have uniformly held that the initiative processes do not ordinarily apply.”
In the matter of annexation the Legislature has specifically delegated the authority to the governing board of a city.2 As the governing board, in an annexation proceeding, exercises state power, not authority granted by the city charter, it is not unreasonable to preclude the people of a single city from exercising the power of initiative and referendum in a matter which is of statewide concern.
It is interesting to note that since the Mervynne decision, Vehicle Code section 22508 has been amended to provide “[a]ny ordinance adopted pursuant to this section establishing a parking meter zone or fixing rates of fees for such a zone shall be subject to local referendum processes in the same manner as if such ordinance dealt with a matter of purely local con*679cem.” If the Legislature had intended to preserve the right of referendum to the electors of the city in annexation matters, an amendment to tire Annexation of the Uninhabited Territory Act of 1939, similar to that found in Vehicle Code section 22508, could have been adopted.
Petitioner maintains that Elections Code section 4050 and Guerrieri v. City of Fontana, 232 Cal.App.2d 417 [42 Cal.Rptr. 781], citing Government Code section 36937, provide that ordinances take effect 30 days after final passage and that these sections imply a legislative intent that initiative and referendum process applies to all ordinances except those specifically excepted. There is no question that if all ordinances went into effect immediately the effectiveness of direct legislation would be greatly impaired. The function of these sections, however, is limited to defining the effective date of an ordinance and they do not in themselves provide authority for the application of the initiative.
For the reasons stated above I would deny the writ.
Respondents’ petition for a hearing by the Supreme Court was denied December 14, 1973.
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The repeal of section 6, article XI in 1970 does not affect the definition of “municipal affair.”

Government Code section 35300 et seq.