Fresno County’s lawsuit against the State of California over the bill to force the Better Roads, Safe Streets tax onto the November ballot finally has a court date.
The case will head to court on Tuesday after getting a third judge to hear it.
Driving the news: The Fresno County Board of Supervisors filed a lawsuit against the state over Assembly Bill 1923. The county also sued county elections chief James Kus and the backers of the Better Roads, Safe Streets initiative, including Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer.
While the case was initially assigned to Judge Bob Whalen, California Attorney General Rob Bonta moved to remove Whalen on the grounds that he would be prejudiced against the state.
The case then moved to Judge Virna Santos. Fresno County moved to disqualify Santos from the case also on grounds that she would be prejudiced. Santos previously represented Asm. Esmeralda Soria (D–Fresno) in 2021 when she was on the Fresno City Council. Soria was one of the authors of AB 1923.
What we’re watching: Following the removal of Santos, the case was assigned to Judge Lisa Gamoian.
Gamoian was first elected to the bench in 2014 after serving as a homicide prosecutor for the Fresno County District Attorney’s Office.
The court scheduled a status conference for the case on Tuesday at 3:30 p.m. in department 502.
The county has argued that it needs the case to be handled immediately in order to consider a temporary restraining order ahead of Sep. 9, the date that Kus has to start printing the ballot.