🏛️ $351.7B budget deal · Newsom · Limón · Rivas · June 26🗳️ 14 measures certified · Secretary Weber · Nov. 3 ballot🚗 SB 623 signed · Uber ballot war ends · June 25🛢️ Sunflower Alliance v. Dept. of Conservation · CEQA Class 1 · June 25⚖️ P. v. Cofer · no duplicative custody credits · June 25☠️ Death penalty show-cause return due · Bonta · June 26🔥 Nguyen v. L.A. · SoCalGas 3.5% surcharge upheld · June 22📦 Betanco v. Living Spaces · FAA exemption denied · June 25🏛️ $351.7B budget deal · Newsom · Limón · Rivas · June 26🗳️ 14 measures certified · Secretary Weber · Nov. 3 ballot🚗 SB 623 signed · Uber ballot war ends · June 25🛢️ Sunflower Alliance v. Dept. of Conservation · CEQA Class 1 · June 25⚖️ P. v. Cofer · no duplicative custody credits · June 25☠️ Death penalty show-cause return due · Bonta · June 26🔥 Nguyen v. L.A. · SoCalGas 3.5% surcharge upheld · June 22📦 Betanco v. Living Spaces · FAA exemption denied · June 25
Sunday Edition · Fiscal finale · Week of June 22–28, 2026
$0B
Deal closed
Twelve days after lawmakers enrolled a placeholder budget, Governor Newsom, Senate President pro Tempore Monique Limón, and Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas announced a three-party agreement on a $351.7 billion spending plan — zero deficit, healthcare cuts softened, and a path to July 1 as the fiscal year clock runs out.
Balanced · $0 deficit · Medi-Cal assets cap rejected
From enrollment to handshake — the budget's final two weeks
Last Sunday's edition tracked the Legislature's June 15 enrollment of a $356 billion placeholder. This week closed the gap: Friday's deal rejects Governor Newsom's $2,000 Medi-Cal assets cap for low-income seniors, defers undocumented Medi-Cal premium hikes to the next governor, and preserves $900 million for a climate-related grant program legislative Democrats had fought to protect — while dropping Newsom's proposed prison closure.
Weber certifies a crowded fall ballot after six withdrawals
Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber certified 14 measures on June 26 — five legislative referrals and nine initiatives — after a week of high-stakes withdrawals. Uber and the Consumer Attorneys pulled competing rideshare measures. The California Business Roundtable and Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association withdrew a local-tax initiative after lawmakers placed ACA 22 on the ballot instead. Six measures came off; fourteen remain.
Legislative SCA 1 — recall of state officers
Legislative SB 42 — California Fair Elections Act public campaign financing
Legislative ACA 20 — Save for California's Future rainy day fund
Legislative SB 417 — Veterans and Affordable Housing Bond ($11.25B)
Legislative ACA 22 — local special tax two-thirds vote requirement
Uber and trial lawyers end the ballot war with rideshare safety legislation
Governor Newsom signed Senate Bill 623 on June 25 — the legislative product of a compromise that withdrew two competing initiatives each side had allocated roughly $75 million to fight. The law limits medical-lien recoveries in rideshare crash cases, bans attorney referrals to providers with financial ties, requires annual driver background checks, and authorizes gender-preference ride options. Both ballot measures are off the November ballot.
The Supreme Court reversed the Court of Appeal and remanded in a CEQA challenge over oil-well conversion permits in Contra Costa County, holding that the Class 1 categorical exemption's phrase "negligible or no expansion of existing or former use" measures changes in the nature or degree of a facility's use — not the risk of environmental harm. Environmental groups had argued the Department of Conservation improperly claimed a categorical exemption while imposing conditions addressing potential environmental effects.
The court declined to reach whether an agency may claim a categorical exemption while adopting environmental conditions, finding that question unnecessary after correcting the Class 1 analytical framework. The Western States Petroleum Association and Center for Biological Diversity both filed amicus briefs.
The Attorney General is ordered to show cause in the Superior Court of California, County of Sacramento, when the matter is placed on calendar, why the relief prayed for should not be granted.
California Supreme Court order — Office of the State Public Defender v. Bonta, return due June 26, 2026
Friday marked Attorney General Rob Bonta's deadline to respond to the Supreme Court's May 27 show-cause order in the first statewide challenge asking courts to declare California's death penalty unconstitutional based on racial discrimination. The State Public Defender, ACLU, and NAACP LDF petition cites studies showing Black defendants are up to 8.7 times more likely to receive death sentences. Bonta has previously called racial disparities "profoundly disturbing" while continuing to defend capital judgments. Sacramento Superior Court evidentiary proceedings now loom.
When multiple cases are jointly resolved at a single sentencing hearing with concurrent terms, Cofer argued Penal Code section 2900.5, subdivision (b) entitles defendants to presentence custody credits for time served on each case separately — effectively stacking credits.
Supreme Court · June 25
Denied
The Supreme Court held defendants sentenced to concurrent terms at a single hearing are not entitled to duplicative presentence custody credits for overlapping custody periods. The unanimous opinion in No. S286297 caps credit calculations when multiple cases resolve together — a ruling affecting joint-sentencing practice statewide.
Nguyen v. City of Los Angeles — SoCalGas surcharge is a fee, not a tax
0
Customer surcharge on natural gas bills
21 yr
Remaining franchise term
Art. XIII C
(e)(4) government property exemption
Division Six affirmed summary judgment for Los Angeles on June 22, holding that the 3.5% pass-through surcharge SoCalGas collects from customers as part of its city franchise agreement is a charge for use of public streets and rights-of-way — not a tax requiring voter approval under Article XIII C. Plaintiff Annie Nguyen's Proposition 26 challenge failed because the exemption for government property usage applies.
The First District affirmed that a furniture delivery driver is a transportation worker engaged in interstate commerce — exempt from the Federal Arbitration Act — even though his routes never crossed state lines. Furniture manufactured in California, Mexico, and elsewhere moved through distribution centers before local delivery, placing the goods in the stream of interstate commerce. Core wage claims for minimum wage, overtime, and meal breaks stay in court; representative PAGA standing survives.
Pitt v. Shefler — Swiss billionaire hauled into California courts
Division Seven reversed a Los Angeles Superior Court ruling that had dismissed Stoli Group owner Yuri Shefler from Brad Pitt's lawsuit over Angelina Jolie's $64 million sale of her Château Miraval stake. Justice Gail Feuer found Shefler directed European negotiations, guaranteed $39 million of his own funds, and maintained ongoing communications with California residents — purposefully availing himself of California jurisdiction despite residing in Geneva.
The purchase agreements were governed by California law with California forum-selection clauses. Trial is scheduled for February 1, 2027, with mediation ordered for October 28.
City & County of S.F. v. Public Employment Relations Bd.
Division Five vacated PERB's decision requiring San Francisco to arbitrate proposals granting just-cause discharge protections and seniority-based layoffs to roughly 500 at-will municipal attorneys. The court held the San Francisco City Charter's civil service merit-system carve-out makes at-will status a non-arbitrable condition of employment — and PERB erred in finding bad faith when the City refused to submit the proposals.
PERB: just-cause and seniority proposals eligible for binding interest arbitrationCourt of Appeal: at-will exempt appointments under Charter §10.104 are outside impasse arbitration — City correctly excluded proposals
ACA 22 ends the local-tax initiative war — for now
Lawmakers placed ACA 22 on the November ballot after reaching a legislative compromise with the California Business Roundtable and Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association, who withdrew their competing initiative. If voters approve, local special tax initiatives would require a two-thirds electorate vote and property taxes could not be enacted through the initiative process.
⅔
Vote threshold
Required electorate vote to enact, extend, or increase local special tax initiatives under ACA 22.
Newsom names 14 superior court judges on budget day
0
New judicial appointments
3
Interim appointments
5
Counties represented
On the same day as the budget announcement, Governor Newsom appointed 14 superior court judges — including interim appointments in El Dorado, Los Angeles, and San Diego counties, plus permanent appointments across Los Angeles, Orange, Sacramento, San Bernardino, and Ventura. The appointments require State Bar and Commission on Judicial Nominees Evaluation review before confirmation.
The fiscal year turns July 1 with budget bills still moving through amendment and signature. Sacramento Superior Court will calendar the death penalty evidentiary proceedings. Supreme Court opinion days resume, and ballot measure campaigns begin in earnest for November.
Governor's budget action deadline
Governor Newsom must sign, veto, or line-item reduce the Budget Act — ten days after June 15 enrollment. Trailer bills implementing healthcare, climate, and education appropriations typically follow through July.
The new fiscal year starts. SB 623's rideshare medical-lien reforms apply to crashes occurring after December 31, 2026. Budget trailer bills may still be pending.
Sacramento Superior Court is expected to place Office of the State Public Defender v. Bonta on calendar for evidentiary proceedings on California's capital punishment racial-disparity claims following Bonta's June 26 return.
Monday publication cycle — first opinion day of the new fiscal year. Watch for grants of review and certified opinions following the Court's weekly conference.
Voters decide on housing bonds, rainy day fund reforms, local tax thresholds, public campaign financing, environmental review streamlining, and more — the certified ballot certified June 26.