History of administrative citations

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This is the history as we know it. Prior to 1995 municipal ordinance violations were prosecuted in superior / municipal court. Generally a city did not bring a complaint unless it was a serious issue. It took a lot, in time and money, to prosecute a person for a tiny violation. Itty bitty violations were not prosecuted. People were left alone to enjoy their property. The issues were criminal not civil. In superior court a citizen had full due process rights and judges were not sympathetic to the fining of citizens. For a city to expend money to prosecute someone for issues of nothing just didn't happen as it cost money, wasted resources, took a long time and citizens had civil rights.

SEE HOMEPAGE FOR DOWNLOAD SECTION JOAN GALLO EXPLANATION OF ADMINISTRATIVE CITATION

In about 1995 Joan R. Gallo, a city attorney for San Jose, convinced a senator to introduce a bill (SB 814) that would permit cities to run an administrative process to issue and prosecute their own citations. They were given no direction and each city had great leeway to develop their own municipal ordinance law. Without going into a lot of detail the poorly authored state law is vague and overly broad. It gives cities powers they should have never been given. Because the law (GC. 53069.4) was authored so poorly it permitted clever city attorneys to interpret it any way they wish. The bill effectively permits a city to fine a citizen for "any" ordinance it creates. Naturally, cities took full advantage of this stupidity and authored laws that effectively eliminate your defenses and due process. Perhaps legislature "trusted" cities would do the right thing. They haven't. They have not followed the California Administrative Procedures Act. Many have written out ALL DEFENSES to the citation in their municipal code. Its breathtaking that this law in California exists that is so against the Citizens.

Download the Joan Gallo administrative citation whitepaper here:
https://www.cacities.org/uploadedfiles/ ... 8e7eac.pdf

The state law that permits administrative citations is government code 53069.4
Each city and county develop their own municipal ordinances that govern how a citation is prosecuted.
These city laws have nothing to do with the California Administrative Procedures Act.

The bill (SB 814) mentions that the administrative law was modeled after a change in law that permitted parking citations to be prosecuted administratively. It seems clear the law was modeled and intended for minor itty bitty black and white violations such as excessive alarm calls, garbage cans, barking dogs, cars parked on lawns, etc. Things that had little explanation and generally could not be disputed - black and white. The Gallo document in download section explains the history and intent of the law. San Jose's original fines were $25.

Because the law was so poorly written it permitted cities to author their own law and how they prosecute it. The law effectively made the wolf in charge of the hen house. Cities have written law and procedure that favors them, and screws you. Its just that simple. The law, GC. 53069.4, permits 540 local agencies (cities and counties), each to author different law, different procedure, different methods for appeal, and the deck is heavily stacked against you from the very start.

It took a while to catch on. Cities now generally fine the property owner for vague things like trash, garbage, firewood, garbage cans, zoning, low tires, unregistered vehicles, inoperable vehicles, weeds... any little thing they possibly can at the discretion of the code officer who is effectively the officer, prosecutor, judge and jury. So few of these cases reach appellate court there is little case law to correct the poorly authored law.

The way this law was written, as dumb as it may sound, was for simple transient issues. They made the law so that you are GUILTY the second the code officer authors the citation!!! Crazy! This is why your first defense is labeled an 'appeal' which is in front of a hearing officer. Effectively, you are guilty from the start. These issues can be daunting especially if you are being charged with cannabis violations that can run many hundreds of thousands of dollars, or zoning issues or any issue that is not black and white and where discovery is necessary to put on your case.

Small cities, such as Desert Hot Springs California, with 30% living in poverty, a per capita below low income at just $20,000 per annum, and just 30,000 inhabitants pay their city manager $300,000 per year, have five full time code offices, and hire hourly attorneys to prosecute their own citizens. They prey on their citizens. Sister cities of Indio and Coachella were sued in class action lawsuits to stop the abuse. This is called "policing for profit." Non profit law firms like INSTITUTE FOR JUSTICE attempt to correct these wrongs but they just can't sue everybody - see IJ.ORG.

Cities such as Desert Hot Springs California issue citations for having a "low tire" on your own car in your own driveway! It seems their code officers target out of town property owners. Nevertheless this is going on throughout the State of California. Some cities don't use these tactics, but many poor cities such as Desert Hot Springs California, who prey on their citizens to enrich the city, do. They use these citations as deposit slips for the city piggybank and that is where the phrase "policing for profit" was coined.

No one seems to practice municipal law except city attorneys. This puts most people at a disadvantage. Today, the city is for itself, not for its citizens. They are run by greedy city managers who make $300,000+ per year - they could not care less about you. Their goal is income to the city so they have more money for nicer offices, better retirement, longer vacation, more distant seminars on beaches with umbrella drinks, nicer cars, pay raises, hire more code officers. Cities are corporations, this is the ultimate corporate greed with government prosecution.

Normally city improvements are paid by taxes, but citizens don't vote for new taxes so clever city attorneys, consulting attorneys, and city government (especially poor city government) have devised a way to tax everyone by issuing citations like they were handing out flyers at walmart. Nonprofit law firms such as ACLU, Pacific Legal Foundation, and Institute for Justice are fighting these issues but these are difficult costly battles. The cities such as Desert Hot Springs California are playing with taxpayer money and don't seem to care how much they waste. Imagine fining your citizens so you can build new buildings and raise salaries, hire more code officers. Its almost a mafia dream come true. Fining citizens using the power of the government, and ability to lien and sell a citizen's real property!

This law stinks. It seems clear the legislature never anticipated it would be used this way, but the cat is out of the bag. The League of California Cities promote the law; they are not your friend. Now that the cities have such power it is unlikely that it will ever be reversed. However, some issues and defenses may be constitutional violations such as excessive fines, due process, free speech etc. Some attorneys are defending these issues. A list of attorneys will be available. You do have defenses. We offer information, not legal advice.