A lawsuit challenging the San Joaquin County Local Agency Formation Commission's approval of a large annexation has been reinstated by the California Supreme Court. The state's high court overturned a decision by the Third District Court of Appeals against the Sierra Club and the San Joaquin Valley Farm Bureau. The appellate court ruled that the environmentalists and farmers did not exhaust their administrative remedies because they had not requested a LAFCO rehearing. Thus, under the "Alexander rule...

Local government won one round and lost one round in separate, recent decisions over taxes levied without voter approval. The City of La Habra defended its utility users' tax from a lawsuit that claimed the tax violated a Proposition 62 requirement of voter approval. However, the City of Los Angeles lost a case in which an annual assessment on apartment owners was ruled a violation of Proposition 218, which also mandates voter-approval. Both cases — which appear to set important precedents regarding l...