County of Los Angeles v. State of California

Appellant, the State of California (the State), appeals from a judgment granting a peremptory writ of mandate commanding the State to comply with Revenue and Taxation Code section 2201 et seq. and with Statutes 1974, chapter 1392, section 3, by reimbursing respondent Counties of Los Angeles and Santa Barbara (the Counties) for all costs incurred by them in implementing the mandate contained in said chapter 1392 and restraining the State from implementing an offset against any moneys due the Counties to recover the amount of loans the State had made to the Counties to implement the mandate of said chapter 1392 until the Counties are completely reimbursed for all of their costs for implementing that mandate. We affirm.

Facts

Statutes of 1974, chapter 1392, (Gov. Code, § 23300 et seq.) established procedures for the creation of new counties. Those procedures imposed state-mandated local costs for 1975-1976 and succeeding years. “. . . [Tjhere are state-mandated local costs in this act in 1975-76 and subsequent years that require reimbursement under Section 2231 of the Revenue and Taxation Code which can be handled in the regular budget process.” (Stats. 1974, ch. 1392, §…