CP&DR

Articles

Proposition 218: Courts Uphold Rental Inspection Assessment, Water Fees for L.A.

Feb 1, 2001

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 16 No. 02 Feb 2001

Taxpayer organizations recently lost two lawsuits against the City of Los Angeles alleging violations of Proposition 218. In its first interpretation of the initiative, the California Supreme Court held that the city's apartment inspection fee was not subject to the voter approval provisions of Proposition 218. In the other case, an appellate court ruled that the city's water service fees and the transfer of money from the water fund to other funds were not subject to Proposition 218. In the apartment...

U.S. Supreme Court Limits Reach of Clean Water Act: Reducing Federal Oversight May Not HAve Major Effect in California

Feb 1, 2001

CP&DR Staff, Legal Digest, Vol. 16 No. 02 Feb 2001

A divided U.S. Supreme Court has limited the scope of the Clean Water Act by removing U.S. Army Corps of Engineers' jurisdiction over isolated waters and seasonal wetlands, such as vernal pools and ephemeral washes. Farmers, developers and property rights advocates hailed the ruling as an important limitation on intrusive federal regulation. Environmentalists decried the ruling as a step backward, although many observers said the decision's impact would not be as great in California because of extensive...