Connell

This case involves a dispute as to whether a statewide regulatory amendment, increasing the level of purity required when reclaimed waste-water is used for certain types of irrigation, constitutes a state-mandated program for which water districts are entitled to reimbursement from the state. (Cal. Const., art. XIII B, § 6 (hereafter, section 6); Gov. Code, § 17500 et seq.; former Rev. & Tax. Code, § 2201 et seq.) The State Controller and State Treasurer appeal from a trial court judgment granting petitions for writ of mandate brought by Santa Margarita Water District (SMWD), Marin Municipal Water District, Irvine Ranch Water District and Santa Clara Valley Water District (the Districts), seeking to enforce a State Board of Control (the Board) decision which found the regulatory amendment constituted a reimbursable state Appellants contend the trial court erred because (1) the amendment did not constitute a new program or higher level of service in an existing program; (2) the Districts’ claim was abolished when the statutory basis for their claim—former Revenue and Taxation Code section 2207—was repealed before their rights were reduced to final judgment, and (3) the…