California Supreme Court Watch

#21-22 Chevron U.S.A., Inc. v. County of Monterey, S271869. (H045791; 70 Cal.App.5th 153; Monterey County Superior Court; 16CV003978.) Petition for review after the Court of Appeal affirmed the judgment in a civil action. The court limited review to the following issue: Does Public Resources Code section 3106 impliedly preempt provisions LU-1.22 and LU-1.23 of Monterey County’s initiative “Measure Z”?

Review granted: 1/26/2022

Case fully briefed: 9/16/2022

Cause argued and submitted: 5/25/2023

Opinion filed: Judgment affirmed in full: 8/03/2023

See the Court of Appeal Opinion.

See the Petition for Review.

In the news:  Conley, Calif. High Court Takes Up Fight Over County’s Drilling Bans, Law360 (Jan. 27, 2022).

See the Oral Argument.

See the California Supreme Court Opinion.  (Chevron, U.S.A., Inc. v. County of Monterey (2023) 15 Cal.5th 135.)

“We granted review to decide whether Public Resources Code section 31062 preempts Measure Z. We conclude it does because Measure Z is contradictory to, and therefore conflicts with, section 3106. Accordingly, we affirm the judgment of the Court of Appeal.”

Justice Jenkins authored the opinion of the Court, in which Chief Justice Guerrero and Justices Liu, Kruger, Groban, Evans, and Raphael* concurred.