Court Denies Rent Control Backers’ Request For Rehearing After Court Ruling Invalidates Part of Measure H

The Court of Appeal’s Second District will not reconsider part of its recent ruling that invalidated a key tenant protection provision of Measure H.

On Thursday, the court denied supporters of Measure H a rehearing on the court’s decision concluding that Measure H’s tenant relocation assistance requirement is preempted by the state’s Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act.

The decision probably was not a shock to some supporters. One key supporter told Pasadena Now earlier this week that getting the decision overturned was a long shot.

Last month, the court struck down a provision requiring landlords to pay relocation assistance when tenants are displaced by large rent increases, finding it conflicted with the purpose of Costa-Hawkins.

The Costa-Hawkins Rental Housing Act is a California state law passed in 1995 that limits how cities can enact rent control.

In their rehearing petition, attorneys for Affordable Pasadena and individual tenant interveners argue the court relied on a theory of “purpose preemption” that was never raised or briefed by the parties, in violation of a government code which requires appellate courts to allow supplemental briefing before deciding an issue not previously argued.

The filing contends that the court incorrectly expanded the purpose of the Costa-Hawkins Act beyond what prior case law supports, characterizing it as a guarantee that landlords may raise rents on exempt units to “fair market value” without any financial consequence.

According to the petition, no published decision has held that Costa-Hawkins protects landlords from regulations that reduce rental income, so long as those rules do not restrict the ability to set rent.

The requirement to provide relocation payments to tenants displaced by steep rent hikes, the filing argues, operates like other tenant protections that courts have previously upheld as consistent with state law.

The petition asks the court to grant rehearing so the parties may fully brief the scope and purpose of Costa-Hawkins, and to revise the opinion to remove what it calls a legally erroneous interpretation that could be used to invalidate tenant protections beyond Pasadena.

Although the court struck down part of Measure H, it largely upheld the provision.

In December the three-judge panel largely upheld Measure H, rejecting claims that the City Charter amendment was an unlawful revision and affirming the legality of the city’s Rental Housing Board.

After voters overwhelmingly approved Measure H in 2022, landlord groups challenged the initiative, which imposes rent control and expands tenant protections in Pasadena.