Attempts to put prohibitions and obligations on what police officers can ask about someone’s immigration status goes beyond existing state laws, Rankin said.

Peard disagrees, saying the initiative was carefully crafted to avoid any conflicts with existing state law.

Additionally, Peard says that if the city is headed to court under an SB1487 complaint, it will prevail because the law is tied to actions by city officials, not voter-approved initiatives like Prop. 205.

“If 205 garners more than 50% of the vote in November, it will not be a decision made by the governing body of the city. It will be an exercise of the initiative power, which was bequeathed to us by our founders in 1912,” Peard said.

Rankin addressed the issue in his memo back in January, acknowledging that it could be an argument in a future legal fight between the city and the state.

“An argument can be made that the provisions of SB 1487 do not apply to ordinances adopted by initiative measure, because they are ordinances approved by a general election, and not by the governing body of the city, the mayor and the council,” he wrote.