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OFFICE OF THE CITY ATTORNEY <br />OPINION NO. 74-7 <br />February 4, 1974 <br />SUBJECT: Conflicts Between State Law and Charter <br />Provision - Competitive Bidding Reauircments. <br />REQUESTED BY: Charles J. Liberto, <br />Assistant City Attorney <br />OPINION BY: Richard E. Lay, Deputy City Attorney <br />QUESTION: If the state legislature enacts a statute <br />declaring municipal competitive. bidding <br />requirements to be inapplicable to purchases <br />of petroleum products, does such a statute <br />override a charter provision requiring pur- <br />chases of petroleum products to be by compe- <br />titive bidding? <br />ANSWER: The state law would probably be held to be <br />controlling; the city government would be <br />free to purchase petroleum products without <br />competitive bidding. <br />Senate Bill 1508 (introduced January 8, 1974) would <br />exempt purchases and contracts for the purchase of petroleum <br />products by state and local agencies from all competitive bid- <br />ding requirements which would otherwise apply to such transac- <br />tions. Sections 1 and 2 of the bill would add on an additional <br />clause to government Code Section 14791 (to be operational until <br />July 1, 1975) adding "petroleum products" to the list of types <br />of commodities which are exempted from the competitive bidding <br />requirements imposed on state agencies by Section 14807. Sec- <br />tion 3 of the bill would add a new section to the Government <br />Code. (Section 53064.5), which would remain in effect only until <br />July 1, 1975 unless extended by statute and which applies to <br />"local agencies" (defined as any city,•county, city and county, <br />or district). The substantive part reads as follows: <br />"Notwithstanding any other provision of law, a local <br />agency may purchase or contract to purchase petroleum <br />products without respect to bid requirements." <br />Both general law cities and chartered cities have the <br />constitutional authority to adopt ordinances or regulations per- <br />taining to "local" or "municipal" affairs. Cal. Const., Art. XI, <br />Sec. 7 (formerly Section 11). But this general authority extends <br />-17- <br />