For the past two years, Huntington Beach has been wrapped up in a series of lawsuits against California’s leaders that boil down to one key issue: how much power do charter cities have over their own land?
It’s a question Surf City leaders have repeatedly asked both state and federal courts over the past two years, under a Republican majority that’s often cast itself in direct opposition to Gov. Gavin Newsom and other state leaders across issues like housing development and voter ID.
The council’s most outspoken proponent in those fights is City Attorney Michael Gates, who’s argued that the California Constitution guarantees charter cities certain powers the state can’t infringe on.
In a Dec. 4 interview, Gates said that while the city has to follow the state on other issues like the penal code, they’re allowed to set up their own laws within those boundaries.
“The main local control subject matters are police departments, local elections, local resources and then land use decisions,” Gates said. “To the extent the state legislature is going to seek to manage those subject matters at the state level, then we’re going to have a conflict.”
But he noted on other issues like waste management, health and education where the state gets the final decision, the city is bound by those choices.
“When we assert our charter city authority we’re not saying we’re an island or we’re our own state,” Gates said. “We’re just trying to exercise the rights we have on local matters as defined by the California Constitution.”
That exercise has led to a litany of legal battles between Gov. Gavin Newsom and the city over the past two years, with the state arguing that while charter cities do have power to shape their laws, matters of statewide concern are still under the purview of state legislators.
“Huntington Beach claims it is immune from state law in a range of matters that are of statewide concern. That is not and has never been the law.” said Walter Garcia, a spokesperson for Attorney General Rob Bonta, in a statement. “Adopting a charter did not convert the city into the 51st state; it remains a derivative public entity under state law.”
So far, courts have mostly ruled against the city and in favor of the state.
The city’s lawsuit against the state in federal court was shot down by both a federal circuit judge and a panel of judges from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, which is currently set to review the case again after a request from Gates.
[Read: Federal Appeals Court Slaps Down Huntington Beach’s Anti Housing Lawsuit]
City leaders are currently appealing a ruling in state court where a San Diego Superior Court Judge ruled they need to create a housing plan that the state approves.
[Read: Huntington Beach Loses Housing Mandate Lawsuit Against California]
The big ruling in the city’s favor came after the state sued the city, arguing their voter ID rules were unconstitutional. A judge ruled the state brought the issue too early to rule on, a decision the state is looking to appeal to a higher court.
[Read: CA Attorney General Pushes for Surf City Voter ID Case to Move to State Appeals Court]
When asked about the rulings against the city, Gates said they were undermining the California Constitution.
“It renders the Constitution meaningless,” Gates said. “What is the point of the Constitution if it doesn’t set forth rights that can be protected and not eroded by threats or conflicts?”
UC Irvine Professor Nicholas Marantz, who studies how states and local municipalities negotiate zoning for housing, said that under California law, the state has the power to intervene in local issues when it’s a matter of statewide concern.
“If there’s a statewide interest in regulating a given matter like say housing affordability, and if local law has impacts beyond the border of the locality, then the state can override those local laws,” Marantz said in an interview.
While the state laws have to be narrowly tailored to the issue at hand, Marantz said some charter cities are increasingly pushing the limits of just how much control Sacramento has.
“I think it’s clear that Huntington Beach and several other charter cities are very aggressively contesting state laws that I think from the perspective of many are valid and don’t unduly impinge on home rule prerogatives,” Marantz said.
“But it’s very possible to delay implementation of the laws through litigation.”
Noah Biesiada is a Voice of OC reporter and corps member with Report for America, a Groundtree initiative. Contact him at nbiesiada@voiceofoc.org.