State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, Afl-Cio, Plaintiff and Appellant v. City of Vista Et…

Summary

The court held that California's prevailing wage law does not apply to charter cities' locally funded public works because the wage levels paid to contract workers on such projects are a municipal affair and not a matter of statewide concern. It concluded that Vista's ordinance directly conflicted with the state law, but that the state lacked a sufficient constitutional basis to override the city's control over expenditure of its own funds. The court therefore affirmed denial of the Union's mandate petition. Justice Werdegar and Justice Liu dissented, arguing that regional labor markets, apprenticeship training, and the statewide economic purposes of the prevailing wage law justified state regulation.