Insights
Notes from the practice
Practical writing on public agency law, land use and real estate, litigation, and appellate strategy — for the officials, business owners, and individuals who have to make the decision, not just review it.
- Municipal Law
SB 922 Puts Street Repair Back in the Refuse Rate: What Changes After Rogers v. City of Redlands
On August 27, 2026, Governor Newsom signed SB 922, which amends Vehicle Code section 9400.8 to reject Rogers v. City of Redlands (2025) 112 Cal.App.5th 667 and confirm that a street-repair component in a city’s refuse, water or sewer rates is not a prohibited charge for the privilege of using its streets. Effective January 1, 2027. What the Court of Appeal decided, what the bill restores, and the Proposition 218 and refund rules it leaves in place.
- Litigation & Appeals
California Writes Lawyers’ Use of AI Into Statute: What SB 574 Requires, and What Clients Should Ask
On September 30, 2026, Governor Newsom signed SB 574, which writes into statute how attorneys and arbitrators may use generative AI. Beginning January 1, 2027, a California lawyer may not hand the practice of law to an AI tool, may not put client confidences into an open system, and must personally verify every citation filed in court. What the law requires, and what clients should ask their lawyers.
- Land Use & Real Estate
Is Local Land Use Control Disappearing? What California’s CEQA Reforms Mean for Cities and Counties
On June 30, 2025, AB 130 and SB 131 exempted most urban infill housing from CEQA and narrowed review for near-miss projects. The reforms did not repeal zoning, but they moved local influence from project-by-project discretion to objective standards adopted in advance. What cities and counties still control, where the litigation risk is moving, and what to do now.
- Municipal Law
The Government Claims Act Is Now the Only Road to a Local Tax Refund
On August 10, 2026, a unanimous California Supreme Court held in Tesoro Refining & Marketing Co. v. City of Carson that the Government Claims Act occupies the field of claim-presentation requirements for money claims against local public entities, preempting refund procedures written into local tax ordinances. Cities with refund procedures in their tax codes should assume those procedures are unenforceable.
- Land Use & Real Estate
Building a CEQA Record That Survives Review
CEQA cases are won and lost on the administrative record, and the record is largely built before anyone contemplates litigation. Treat it as a project deliverable, support every exemption, and answer comments on the merits.
- Municipal Law
Five Brown Act Missteps That Turn a Routine Closed Session Into Litigation
Most closed-session problems are not bad faith; they are an agenda description written in a hurry. Five missteps that turn a routine closed session into a cure-and-correct demand, and what to do about each.
- Litigation & Appeals
Preserving the Record: What Trial Counsel Should Do Before There Is an Appeal
Almost every record that cannot support the appeal was fixable at trial, at little cost, by counsel thinking one level up. Specific objections, rulings on the record, and the standard of review, before the notice of appeal.