Court says charter cities can't skimp on public projects. (Law).

OVERTURNING a 70-year exemption, a three-judge panel of the 2nd Appellate District has ruled that more than 100 charter cities, including 18 in Los Angeles County, must pay the state's prevailing wage on public work projects.

Many of the large charter cities, like Los Angeles, already pay prevailing wages. But Bob Balgenorth, president of the AFL-CIO's State Building and Construction Trades Council of California, said the ruling is a long overdue guarantee for all construction workers.

"We're just elated," he said. "Construction workers will now get a decent wage."

The case involved the 1998 construction of a $10 million animal shelter and headquarters for the L.A. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals in Long Beach.

Upon review, the state's Department of Indistrial Relations determined that the shelter was a "public work" that was not exempt from paying the prevailing wage because it is a charter city, the ruling says.

Long Beach, along with 44 other charter cities, petitioned the L.A. Superior Court to determine labor code law as it applied to the shelter. After the lower court ruled for the cities, the DIR and the State Building and Construction Trades Council appealed.

Appellate Judge Earl Johnson reversed the ruling in the July 14 ruling.

Dan Murphy, the Long Beach city lawyer who argued the case, said he plans to petition the California Supreme Court in August. He said several other rulings have found that prevailing wage issues in public works is not a statewide concern.