Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy’s Grant to a Joint Powers Authority of Which It is a Member is Not Prohibited

On September 23, the California Court of Appeal held that the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy’s (“Conservancy”) $200,000 grant to the Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (“Authority”) was not illegal. (Robings v. Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy) Challengers to the grant, including individuals, a taxpayer group, and another preservation fund, had asserted that the Conservancy’s grant was a grant “to itself” because the Conservancy is one of three members of the Authority. Because the Conservancy’s enabling act did not specifically give it authority to grant funds to itself, challengers asserted, the grant was prohibited.

The Court of Appeal found that the challengers did not carry their burden of showing that the Conservancy’s actions conflicted with its enabling statute, where the statute gave the agency broad powers to enter into interagency agreements and to implement similar programs to the Authority’s on its own. The Court also pointed out that an agency has implied powers arising from the purposes for which the agency was created.

Statutory agencies must always carefully consider the powers granted by their enabling acts, but this case confirms that a joint powers authority is a separate legal agency, and an agency’s grant to such an authority where it is also a member of the authority will not automatically be prohibited.