City of Flagstaff issued the following announcement on Oct. 11.
Earlier – and after a hearing held on October 4 – Judge James Smith of the Maricopa County Superior Court entered a preliminary injunction (attached) precluding the State of Arizona from collecting a $1.1 million “assessment” that the Arizona Legislature said should be collected from the City of Flagstaff.
That “assessment” arises out of legislation passed several years ago (HB 2756) in direct response to Proposition 414, under which the City’s voters recognized the needs of the community and adopted a minimum wage higher than that of the State at large. In July of this year, the City filed a lawsuit against the State challenging the constitutionality of a recently passed law that, for the first time, authorized an “assessment” against the City in connection with its minimum wage.
In a detailed 12-page ruling, the Court held that the City is likely to succeed on its claims that the “assessment” is invalid for two reasons: (1) the State did not impose it in time, and (2) it is made up entirely of “indirect” costs to the State that are improper under HB 2756 because the State is exempt from paying the City’s minimum wage. The Court also found that the City established a possibility of irreparable harm because of the effect that paying the “assessment” already had on the City’s budget and its ability to meet the needs of its citizens.
The City is pleased with this result and will push forward to obtain a permanent injunction. In the meantime, the City hopes the State will accept that it cannot collect this “assessment” to penalize the City’s voters for exercising a right expressly granted to them in a statewide initiative nearly two decades ago.
Original source can be found here.
Alerts Sign-up