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Court Prohibits Bond Expenditure on Stadium Lighting Because Lighting Was Not Specifically Listed as Contemplated Project

The California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, recently held that school district bond revenues could not be spent on stadium lighting where the bond proposition did not specifically list field lighting as part of...more

Court of Appeal Narrowly Reads School Bond Measure Language In Siding with Taxpayer Group’s Challenge To High School Stadium...

The California Court of Appeal, Fourth Appellate District, recently held that school district bond revenues could not be spent on stadium lighting where the bond proposition did not specifically list field lighting as part of...more

SCA 3 Proposes Constitutional Amendment To Lower Voter Approval Requirement For Parcel Taxes From Two-Thirds To 55 Percent For...

SCA 3 seeks to amend the California Constitution relating to taxation by amending Section 4 of Article XIIIA, adding Section 4.5 to Article XIIIA, amending Section 2 of Article XIIIC, and amending Section 3 of Article XIIID,...more

Illinois Supreme Court Denies Taxpayer Standing in Constitutional Challenge to School Funding Law

The Illinois state educational funding statute survived a constitutional challenge last week when the Illinois Supreme Court, in a unanimous opinion by Justice Robert R. Thomas, affirmed an Appellate Court decision dismissing...more

A Short Course on the 11 Proposed Amendments to the Florida Constitution on the November 2012 General Election Ballot

The Legislature has placed 11 proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot for the General Election to be held November 6, 2012. There will be no citizen initiated proposed constitutional amendments on the ballot this...more

Argument Report: Taxpayer Standing to Challenge Education Financing?

Our reports on the oral arguments of the Illinois Supreme Court's September term continue with Carr v. Koch. In Carr, the taxpayer plaintiffs are challenging Circuit Court and Appellate Court decisions that they lacked...more

Can Taxpayers Challenge the State's School Financing System?

Our preview of the September term of the Illinois Supreme Court continues with Carr v. Koch. Plaintiffs have challenged states' school financing systems on constitutional grounds for nearly two generations now. The state...more

Virginia Supreme Court Opinions Affecting Local Government Law: June 7, 2012

Today, the Virginia Supreme Court issued several opinions affecting the practice of Virginia local government law. The cases involve (1) an inverse condemnation claim against VDOT for flooding, (2) another application of...more

Sutherland SALT Shaker- Vol. 2 No. 8 September 2011

IN THIS ISSUE: Indiana Jeopardy Assessments (and Taxpayer) Turn Out to be a Dog While the power to issue a jeopardy assessment has been referred to as part of a state’s “power of the purse, not its power of the...more

FEDERALISMO: Commento CeRM allo schema di decreto per la rimozione degli squilibri economico-sociali

In tema di federalismo, facendo seguito al commento sul decreto per la perequazione infrastrutturale (Short Note n. 1-2011), CeRM propone una analisi del decreto "gemello", quello che dovrebbe guidare la rimozione, o...more

Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization v. Winn, et al., & Garriott v. Winn, et al.,

Brief of the CATO Institute, Andrew J. Coulson, et al., as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioners

Arizona grants income tax credits for contributions made to school tuition organizations ("STOs"). STOs must use these donations for scholarships that allow students to attend private schools. This statutory scheme broadens...more

Arizona Christian School Tuition Organization, et al., v. Winn

Brief of the CATO Institute, et al., as Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioners

Arizona grants income tax credits for contributions made to school tuition organizations ("STO"). These STOs must use these donations for scholarships that allow students to attend private schools. This statutory scheme...more