Recent Developments in Florida Energy and Environmental Legislation
State AG Pulse | The Laboratories of Democracy
Several cities in California successfully petitioned for a writ of mandate seeking the invalidation of California Senate Bill 9 (the HOME Act)....more
The New York State Supreme Court has held the New York State Commission on Ethics and Lobbying in Government (the “commission”) is unconstitutional in violation of the separation of powers. The ruling comes in Cuomo v. New...more
Yesterday's post concerned California's statutory scheme governing the gubernatorial power to fill vacant United States Senate seats. The relevant statute requires that the person appointed be an "elector of this state". ...more
The Illinois Cannabis Regulation and Tax Act (“CRTA”), which was enacted in 2019, legalized recreational adult use cannabis in Illinois. The CRTA also created a Social Equity Program intended to offer disadvantaged people,...more
On April 1, 2022, the Superior Court of California, County of Los Angeles granted the plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment in a case challenging the legality of AB 979 under the California Constitution...more
On Tuesday, March 22, 2022, a three-judge panel of the Circuit Court for Benton County, Tennessee, issued an order declaring that Tennessee Code Annotated § 70-1-305(1) is unconstitutional, unlawful, and unenforceable, and...more
Last week, the First Circuit Court of Appeals rejected challenges to a Maine emergency rule requiring that health care workers be vaccinated against COVID-19. Originally scheduled to take effect on August 12, 2021, all Maine...more
A recent Florida Supreme Court decision found that the Hillsborough County 1% transportation sales surtax is unconstitutional. As a result, the decision reduced the sales tax rate on commercial lease payments in Hillsborough...more
Last November, South Dakota voters approved Amendment A, which allowed for the recreational use of marijuana by individuals 21 years and older (and for possession of up to 1 ounce). On February 8, 2021, a South Dakota judge...more
In response to a resolution passed by the Oyster Bay Town Board on October 6, 2020, that purports to create rules of decorum at Town Board meetings and seeks to prohibit inappropriate behavior during board meetings, a Town...more
Earlier this year, I asked a question on this blog: does the Maine Constitution, now in its 200th year, still matter? Shortly after, I offered a few reasons why it should still matter, including the Maine Constitution’s...more
The Fifth District recently upheld the dismissal of a complaint filed by 22 Illinois school districts against Governor Pritzker and the State of Illinois challenging the constitutionality of the state’s public education...more
On March 15, 2020, Maine turns 200 years old. For any Mainer, especially history buffs, the bicentennial is an occasion worth celebrating. For any legal beagle, the bicentennial is worth celebrating for an additional reason:...more
Four hundred and fifty-six days after it was approved by more than 57% of the Hillsborough County electorate, legal challenges to a county charter amendment that added a 1% sales tax designed to finance the county’s...more
AB 5, California’s hastily passed and controversial independent contractor statute, which codifies the use of an “ABC test,” is set to go into effect on January 1, 2020. Already, the California Trucking Association has filed...more
On December 18, 2019, the Michigan Supreme Court issued its long-awaited decision on whether the Michigan legislature’s strategy to enact two ballot proposals (one concerning paid sick leave and the other minimum wage) and...more
In recent years, online platforms like Airbnb and HomeAway have made it easier for property owners to enter into the short-term rental market, which allows property owners to generate supplemental income and defray the cost...more
We previously discussed the suit in the EDVA brought by the City of Norfolk against the Commonwealth of Virginia to try and remove the civil war monument in downtown Norfolk. Service has been waived, and we can now expect...more
An interesting legal battle is playing out in the United States District Court for the Northern District of Ohio over whether the City of Toledo’s establishment of a “Lake Erie Bill of Rights” passes constitutional muster. ...more
On August 29, 2019, an Illinois court denied a petition by a political activist and a hedge fund seeking leave to file a lawsuit claiming that approximately $16 billion of Illinois’s general obligation bonds (“GO Bonds”) were...more
This week, the Florida First District Court of Appeal held that the vertical integration requirement of Florida’s medical marijuana licensing scheme contravenes the 2016 constitutional amendment passed by Florida voters to...more
A recent ruling sheds additional light on Ohio municipal utilities’ authority to sell surplus power to customers outside their boundaries. On May 10, 2019, Judge Robert C. Pollex, sitting as a visiting judge on the Cuyahoga...more
In a split decision issued earlier this month, a majority of the Illinois Supreme Court held that a career lobbyist for the Illinois Federation of Teachers (IFT) union who worked one day as a substitute teacher could receive...more
The Arizona Court of Appeals, Division One, has ruled that the Arizona State Legislature overstepped its authority in 2016, when it prohibited Arizona cities and other municipalities from enacting their own employee benefits...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: Members of the plaintiffs’ bar submit about 500 PAGA notices each month to California’s Labor and Workforce Development Agency. Each notice presages yet another PAGA lawsuit against yet another hapless...more