HomeMy WebLinkAboutSB7 LTR to De Leon 20130405t Y )tN�
���city o s� is oBiso OFFICE OF THE CITY COUNCIL
4l g O990 Palm Street ■ San Luis Obispo, CA 93401-3249 ■ 805/781-7119
April 5, 2013
VIA FACSIMILE 916-327-8817
The Honorable Kevin deLeon
Senate Appropriations Committee, Chair
State Capitol, Room 5108
Sacramento, CA 95814
RE: SB 7 (Steinberg). Publics Works: Charter Cities
NOTICE OF OPPOSITION
Dear Senator deLeon.:
The City of San Luis Obispo wishes to inform you of its opposition to SB 7, legislation
which would prohibit a charter city from receiving or using state funding or financial assistance
for a construction project if the city has a charter provision or ordinance that exempts local
projects funded solely with local monies from state prevailing wage requirements. On March 1.2,
2013, by way of correspondence, we expressed our concerns to the bill's author, Senator Darrell
Steinberg.
This measure violates the fundamental principle of local control and the constitutional
limits of state authority over charter cities, as recently held by the Court in the Vista decision. t
This measure conflicts with Vista by attempting, via the Legislature, to leverage a different
outcome than the Court's ruling by withholding vital state construction funds, derived from all of
the state's taxpayers, from charter cities that fail to adopt prevailing wage requirements for
projects built with local funds. Such a condition is unlawful because the state is seeking to
leverage outcomes it lacks the legal authority to compel.
While the City of San Luis Obispo has a longstanding practice to require the payment of
prevailing wages for city funded projects, we have grave concerns that this legislative tactic will
be used in the future to erode other local flexibility that is important to our community. Local
control of local funds is integral to the ability of charter cities to manage local issues effectively
and responsively to local constituencies. Thus, we oppose this measure due to its undercutting of
1 The California Supreme Court upheld that (1) the construction of a city -operated facility for the benefit of the city's inhabitants with
city funds is "quintessentially a municipal affair," and (2) the state cannot require a charter city to exercise its purchasing power
based upon "some indirect effect [of the charter city's purchasing power] on the regional and state economies." State Building and
Construction Trades Council of California, AFL-CIO v. City of Vista (2012) 54 Cal. 4t" 547.
city of San 1U1S OBISPO
Re: SB 7
April 5, 2013
Page 2
r�local charter authority and fundamental insistencies with established constitutional principles.
The state should respect the Court decision in Vista and stay out of the matter.
This measure would establish an impermissible framework for future state
micromanaging of charter city laws and policies by the tactic of withholding state funds as
political leverage to attempt to force changes to city charters and ordinances.
For these reasons, the City of San Luis Obispo opposes this legislation.
Sincerely,
Jan Marx
Mayor
Cc: City Council
City Manager
Senator Darrell Steinberg, fax 916-323-2263
Senator Bill Monning, fax.916-445-8081
David Mullinax, League of CA Cities