Measure H Rent Control Lawsuit Returns to Court in August

Opening briefs in the California Apartment Association’s appeal against the City of Pasadena will not be heard until August according to an update sent to members of the California Apartment Association earlier this week.

“California Apartment Association’s legal battle against Pasadena’s rent control law continued this past January with the filing of an opening brief in the appellate court contesting the constitutionality of Measure H,” according to the update. “The court recently announced California Apartment Association’s opening brief will not be heard until August of this year. California Apartment Association’s brief presents several key points of contention in its continued legal challenge against Measure H, the rent control law passed by city voters in fall 2022.”

In January, the association filed the opening brief in its efforts to get an appellate court to rule Pasadena’s rent control law is unconstitutional.

The appeal contains the same arguments shot down in a 35-page ruling by Judge Mary Strobel in late March 2023. During the appeals process, new arguments cannot be introduced.

In essence, the California Apartment Association claims that Measure H is a significant revision to the City’s Charter and not an amendment, and since the City Charter cannot be changed without a vote of the people, the lawsuit claims the amendment overrides the City Council-City Manager form of governance model adopted by the City and replaces it with a Rent Board that acts independently of government.

“The measure, which nearly doubled the Charter’s length and established a new, independent branch of city government, necessitates a more thorough City Charter revision process,” the California Apartment Association claims.

The brief also argues that the Rental Board imposes unconstitutional restrictions on Board membership pointing to a mandate allowing seven of the 11 Board seats to be occupied by tenants, with no seats reserved for rental housing providers.

In an opinion piece, Whitney Prout, California Apartment Association’s Executive Vice President of Legal Affairs, wrote, “The Board is designed to be hostile to rental housing providers.”

Finally, the brief challenges the legality of Measure H’s requirement that relocation assistance be paid to tenants who opt to vacate due to rent increases. This aspect of the measure, California Apartment Association argues, unlawfully applies to units exempt from rent control under the Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act.

In March, Judge Strobel ruled in favor of the City, which had acted on behalf of the Rental Housing Board.

“Petitioners cannot prevail by suggesting that in some future hypothetical situation constitutional problems may possibly arise as to the particular application of the statute,” Judge Mary Strobel wrote in her ruling. “Rather, petitioners must demonstrate that the act’s provisions inevitably pose a present total and fatal conflict with applicable constitutional prohibitions.”

The ruling allowed the City to establish the Rental Housing Board which is responsible for the implementation and enforcement of the rent control initiative. On Monday the City announced it has started the recruitment efforts for the City’s new Director of Rent Stabilization. The director will manage a team of 20 employees and a $6 million budget.

The lawsuit lists Ryan Bell, Michelle White, and Affordable Pasadena as respondents.

Affordable Pasadena is a 501(c)(4) nonprofit organization. The IRS classifies the 510(c)(4) nonprofits as tax-exempt social welfare organizations whose contributions receipts are not eligible for tax deductions. Affordable Pasadena operated the Measure H campaign.