JPA Can Be Used To End-Run Vote Requirement, Fourth District Rules
Description
The Fourth District Court of Appeal has rejected arguments from San Diegans for Open Government that the City of San Diego improperly created a joint powers authority in order to avoid a two-thirds vote requirement for issuing sale-leaseback Marks-Roos bonds.
San Diegans for Open Government - a plaintiff frequently used by watchdog lawyer Cory Briggs - sued the city, claiming that a joint-powers authority between the city, the San Diego Housing Authority, and the city's successor agency did not have the power to issue the bonds for several reasons. SDOG attempted to distinguish the situation from the facts of Rider v. City of San Diego (1998) 18 Cal.4th 1035, a California Supreme Court ruling which held, essentially, that the city could end-run the two-thirds requirement by creating a JPA.