Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. v. Coachella Valley Water Dist.

I. BACKGROUND

“Howard Jarvis and the Water District have litigated repeatedly,” and this is the

fifth appeal we have recently heard involving these parties or their principals. (Howard

Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. v. Powell (2024) 105 Cal.App.5th 955, 960.) In Coachella Valley

Water District v. Superior Court of Riverside County (2021) 61 Cal.App.5th 755

(Coachella I), we held that the validation statutes applied to the Water District’s ad

valorem property tax. In Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association v. Coachella Valley

Water District (Feb. 10, 2023, E078411) [nonpub. opn.] (Coachella II), we held that the

Water District’s interfund loan did not violate Propositions 218 (as approved by voters,

Gen. Elec. (Nov. 5, 1996)) or 26 (as approved by voters, Gen. Elec. (Nov. 2, 2010)). In

2 Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. v. Powell, supra, 105 Cal.App.5th 955 (Coachella III),

an appeal which did not specifically involve the Water District itself, we held that the

public interest exemption did not apply to an anti-SLAPP motion brought by the Water

District’s board of directors, general manager, and consultants. And in Howard Jarvis

Taxpayers Assn. v. Coachella Valley Water District…