March 9, 2026
Court of Appeal of the State of California, First Appellate District, Division Four
The Rule of Alameda County Taxpayers' Association v. City of Oakland is that specific references in an initiative measure identifying a private corporation as currently filling a role that involves functions and duties violate article II, section 12, but such references can be severed without invalidating the remainder of the measure, under circumstances where the references are grammatically, functionally, and volitionally separable and the measure contains a severability clause.
January 30, 2026 (filed on rehearing)
Court of Appeal of the State of California, Second Appellate District, Division Six
The Rule of Disney Platform Distribution v. City of Santa Barbara is that a municipal ordinance imposing a tax on video services applies to internet video streaming services when the ordinance uses "channel" in its ordinary meaning as a "programming source" rather than in the technical sense of a "transmission path," under circumstances where the ordinance was approved by voters to modernize and technologically neutralize video service taxation.