Vargas

Plaintiffs—proponents and supporters of a local ballot measure that proposed the repeal of a utility users tax imposed by the City of Salinas—filed this lawsuit against the City of Salinas (the City) challenging the validity of a number of actions taken by the City relating to the ballot measure. In Stanson v. Mott (1976) 17 Cal.3d 206 [ 130 Cal.Rptr. 697 , 551 P.2d 1 ] (Stanson), we explained that because of potential constitutional questions that may be presented by a public entity’s expenditure of public funds in connection with a ballot measure that is to be voted upon in an upcoming election, there is a need to distinguish between (1) “campaign” materials and activities that presumptively may not be paid for by public funds, and (2) “informational” material that ordinarily may be financed by public expenditures. We noted in Stanson that although there are some communications or activities that clearly fall within one of these categories or the other, under some circumstances it may be necessary to examine the “style, tenor and timing” of a communication (id. at p. 222 & fn. 8) in order to determine whether it should be characterized as permissible or…

I agree with the majority that the “express advocacy” standard does not fully capture the limitations on the public funding of communication in connection with political campaigns. I also agree with the majority that the City of Salinas’s expenditures in the present case were lawful. I write to further analyze the relationship between the relevant statute and case law. I also write to explain why the majority’s holding, based on Stanson v. Mott (1976) 17 Cal.3d 206 [ 130 Cal.Rptr. 697 , 551 P.2d 1 ] (Stanson), a case that preceded dramatic changes in the structure of government financing that have occurred over the last 30 years, may not be the final word on the issue.

As suggested by the majority, and by the court in Stanson , there are broadly speaking two types of limitations on public funding of government communications in connection with ballot initiative campaigns: (1) limitations on the content of communications that government agencies may fund; and (2) limitations on the means used by local governments to disseminate their communications.

Government Code section 54964 (section 54964) is concerned with the first type of limitation—the contents of the communication.…

Plaintiffs—proponents and supporters of a local ballot measure that proposed the repeal of a utility users tax imposed by the City of Salinas—filed this lawsuit against the City of Salinas (the City) challenging the validity of a number of actions taken by the City relating to the ballot measure. In Stanson v. Mott (1976) 17 Cal.3d 206 [ 130 Cal.Rptr. 697 , 551 P.2d 1 ] ( Stanson ), we explained that because of potential constitutional questions that may be presented by a public entity's expenditure of public funds in connection with a ballot measure that is to be voted upon in an upcoming election, there is a need to distinguish between (1) "campaign" materials and activities that presumptively may not be paid for by public funds, and (2) "informational" material that ordinarily may be financed by public expenditures. We noted in Stanson that although there are some communications or activities that clearly fall within one of these categories or the other, under some circumstances it may be necessary to examine the "style, tenor and timing" of a communication ( id. at p. 222 & fn. 8) in order to determine whether it should be characterized as permissible or…