Affirmative Action
C&C Construction, Inc. v. Sacramento Municipal Utility District
122 Cal. App. 4th 284 (3d Dist. 2004)
The trial court found that the Sacramento Municipal Utility District's ("SMUD") race-based affirmative action program, which was designed to eliminate contracting disparities, violated section 31 of article I of the California Constitution. Section 31 was adopted by California voters in 1998 as Proposition 209 and subdivision (a) prevents the state from discriminating against or granting preferential treatment to any individual on the basis of race in public contracting. Subdivision (e) of section 31 provides an exception if action must be taken to establish or maintain eligibility for any federal program where ineligibility would result in a loss of federal funds to the state.
SMUD conceded that its affirmative action program violated subdivision (a) and the only issue was whether the "federal funding" exception applied. The Court of Appeal affirmed the trial court's decision that SMUD failed to establish an affirmative defense under subdivision (e) because it produced no evidence of express federal contractual conditions, laws, or regulations that made approval of federal funds contingent upon race-based discrimination by SMUD.
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