The 2025-26 Budget: State Mandate—Santa Ana Regional Water Quality Control Board

May 5, 2025 - In addition, the court found that SB  231 did not apply retroactively because that legislation did more than clarify the law, it changed the law. Citing previous court decisions, including the 2002 and 2022 appellate court decisions, CSM also concluded that local governments in the Santa Ana case lacked sufficient authority to raise fees during the historic period and that SB  231 did not apply retroactively.
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5039

The 2025-26 Budget: State Mandates—Regional Water Quality Control Boards

May 30, 2025 - Background For background information on municipal stormwater permits; why CSM considers some requirements to be state-reimbursable mandates; and the role of Proposition  218 (1996), Chapter  536 of 2017 (SB  231, Hertzberg), and court decisions in determining whether local governments had sufficient authority to raise fees to pay for their costs to comply with stormwater permit
https://lao.ca.gov/Publications/Report/5054