Cal. Apartment Assn. v. City of Pasadena (2025)

Citation: Cal. Apartment Assn. v. City of Pasadena (2025)
Parent Document: Cal. Apartment Assn. v. City of Pasadena (2025)
Jurisdiction: California (state)
Effective Date: 2025-12-18
Original Source: https://www.courtlistener.com/opinion/10761039/cal-apartment-assn-v-city-of-pasadena/ ↗

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hours per week. The hourly rate of compensation shall be equal
to 2.5 times the Pasadena minimum wage.” (§ 1811(j).)
       Petitioners offer calculations showing that this formula
authorizes maximum annual compensation that could be greater
than the maximum permitted for City Council members and the
Mayor. Petitioners assert this demonstrates the Rental Board “is
established as branch [sic] of government co-equal to the [City]
Council and Mayor,” which, petitioners contend, is “a significant
change to the prior system in which the [City] Council and Mayor
held ultimate authority for all governance in the City” and
“another significant departure from the previously subsidiary
role that commissions have traditionally played in Pasadena
governance.”
       Respondents contend petitioners’ compensation comparison
is inherently speculative because it assumes Rental Board
members will work for 20 hours per week and 52 weeks per year,
neither of which is required under Measure H. (See Eu, supra,
54 Cal.3d at p. 509 [conjectural and speculative consequences do
not assist in demonstrating substantial alteration of
governmental scheme].) Regardless, the Constitution grants
plenary authority for a city charter to set forth the terms of
compensation for municipal officers and employees. (Cal. Const.,
art. XI, § 5, subd. (b).) The electorate exercised that authority in
providing those terms for Rental Board members through the
adoption of Measure H. Even if Rental Board members are
ultimately compensated in greater amounts than the Mayor or
City Council members, it does not follow that such a pay
discrepancy alone would necessarily unmoor the City’s
traditional governance.

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