Recent Developments in Florida Energy and Environmental Legislation
State AG Pulse | The Laboratories of Democracy
The California Supreme Court issued its decision in Castellanos v. State (Castellanos) on July 25, 2024, ruling Proposition 22 (Prop 22), the initiative that allows businesses to classify drivers for app-based transportation...more
On July 25, 2024, the California Supreme Court unanimously ruled that Uber Technologies Inc. (“Uber”) and Lyft Inc. (“Lyft”) can continue classifying their California drivers as independent contractors....more
On July 25, 2024, the Supreme Court of California upheld a state law permitting ride-sharing apps to continue classifying their drivers as independent contractors, rather than employees. ...more
After years of litigation, the California Supreme Court upheld Proposition 22, a voter-approved law allowing app-based drivers to work as independent contractors. The Court rejected a challenge by a group of labor unions,...more
The California Supreme Court has blocked Initiative 1935—the so-called “Taxpayer Protection and Government Accountability Act”— from appearing on the November 2024 ballot. The court ruled unanimously that the “measure exceeds...more
Constitutional limitations to raising revenue are becoming increasingly relevant for water and other governmental agencies as well as their customers and landowners in response to aging infrastructure, climate change and...more
In 2016, through a voter initiative called Measure Z, the people of Monterey County, California, enacted a ban on two features of oil and gas operations. One was a ban on injecting or impounding wastewater from operations....more
In the 2020 general election, Californians passed Proposition 22, which gave ride-sharing and delivery app companies such as Uber, Lyft, and DoorDash the ability to continue classify their drivers as independent contractors. ...more
The California Supreme Court issued the following decision on Thursday: Zolly v. City of Oakland, No. S262634: In a case involving the California Constitution’s taxpayer approval requirements for local taxes, the...more
In the words of Tom Cruise’s character Lt. Daniel Kaffee in A Few Good Men, “the hits keep on coming.” This quote crystallizes how California employers will undoubtedly feel following the California Supreme Court’s ruling in...more
On May 13, 2022, the Superior Court of California in Los Angeles County held that SB 826, the law requiring companies with headquarters in California to have a prescribed number of women on their boards of directors, is...more
Last November, California voters convincingly (almost 60% supporting) enacted Proposition 22. This Proposition was a well-funded effort that allows gig drivers working for companies like Uber, Lyft and Doordash to avoid the...more
The California Supreme Court just declined to take up the petition filed by a group of app-based rideshare and delivery drivers to hold as unconstitutional the voter-approved ballot measure that ensured that app-based...more
Just two months after 58% of Californians voted it into effect and not even one month after it became law of the state, a group of workers and a major union have filed suit to overturn the results of Proposition 22, the...more
On September 23, 2020, the California Supreme Court issued orders in each of the four cases it had accepted for review but deferred pending its resolution of Alameda County Deputy Sheriff's Association, et al. v. Alameda...more
Calif. Supreme Court Decision in Wilde v. City of Dunsmuir - Local utility charges are not subject to referendum, according to a California Supreme Court decision issued Monday that held that water rates fall within the...more
Modifications Are Permissible Under the California Rule - In a unanimous decision, the California Supreme Court held that changes made to the County Employees’ Retirement Law, known as CERL, by pension reform measures...more
In a landmark decision of a unanimous court, on July 30, 2020, the California Supreme Court issued its second case in two years on the scope of the “California Rule,” Alameda County Deputy Sheriff’s Assoc. et al., v. Alameda...more
In a case that has implications for anyone doing business in California, the California Supreme Court recently overturned an appellate court ruling that there was a right to a jury trial in actions for penalties and...more
Yesterday, the California Supreme Court issued its opinion in Patterson v. Padilla, Case No. S257302 (Nov. 21, 2019). At issue was "whether portions of the recently enacted Presidential Tax Transparency and Accountability Act...more
The same year that the Great War ended, the voters of California approved an initiative measure governing allowable interest rates. This initiative remains uncodified but West Publisher designates these statutes as Civil Code...more
California courts will generally give effect to a mandatory forum selection clause unless enforcement would be unreasonable or unfair, and the party opposing enforcement of the clause ordinarily bears the burden of proving...more
On September 5, a Fresno trial court held that the California Constitution imposes a two-thirds vote requirement on special local taxes, including those proposed by voter initiative. The decision comes just two months after a...more
A ratepayer may challenge the method of allocating property-related fees without first participating in the public hearing for, and filing a written protest against, the adoption of such new or increased fees, the California...more
The Alameda Superior Court recently declared portions of the Warren-Alquist Act unconstitutional in Communities for a Better Environment v. Energy Resources Conservation and Development Commission (CBE v. Energy Commission)....more