I. SUMMARY Effective January 1, 2019, Assembly Bill 626 (“AB 626”) expands the scope of retail food sanitation standards to include “microenterprise home kitchen operations.” Similarly, Assembly Bill 2178 (“AB 2178”) applies food sanitation standards to “limited service charitable feeding operations.” While cities have discretion to authorize or prohibit the permitting of microenterprise home kitchen…

I. SUMMARY The passage of Assembly Bill (“AB 1598”) in 2017 authorized cities to create Affordable Housing Authorities. Funded by tax-increment financing, these Affordable Housing Authorities were given power to provide affordable housing and affordable workforce housing and are distinct from other housing authorities with broader purposes. Recently, the Governor signed into law Assembly Bill…

I. SUMMARY Intended to minimize the number of Californians who lose access to water service due to their inability to pay, Senate Bill 998 (“SB 998”) provides additional procedural protections before residential water service can be discontinued. These protections apply to water service provided by an “urban and community water system,” a “public water system,”…

I. SUMMARY In a recent decision,1 the United States Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit held that a school district’s policy of opening board meetings with prayer violates the Establishment Clause of the United States Constitution. The 9th Circuit held that unlike ceremonial prayers before legislative bodies that are generally constitutional, such prayers in…

I. SUMMARY Recently, the California Supreme Court ruled in favor of the City of Redding in upholding the city’s annual transfer of funds from its electric utility enterprise fund to its general fund to compensate the city for its costs in providing services to the utility.1 This transfer, called a “payment in lieu of taxes”…

I. SUMMARY The Uniform Public Construction Cost Accounting Act (“UPCCAA”) provides public agencies with an optional, alternative and less-burdensome bidding procedure for public works projects that are valued at a certain amount. Assembly Bill 2249 (“AB 2249”) increased these amounts so that more public works contracts can be awarded using these relaxed bidding procedures. Agencies…

I. SUMMARY Intended to increase economic opportunities to low-income and immigrant communities, increase access to culturally significant food and merchandise, and to contribute to safe and dynamic public spaces, Senate Bill 946 (“SB 946”) limits local authority to regulate sidewalk vendors. Any local regulations on sidewalk vendors must comply with newly enacted state laws that…

I. Summary On August 24, 2017, the California Court of Appeal held that the City of Pasadena was not liable for damages caused by a City tree falling onto a house in a suit for inverse condemnation because there was no record that the City planted the tree as part of a public improvement project.[1]…