In Koenig v. Warner Unified School District (2019) 41 Cal.App.5th 43, the California Court of Appeal added to the legal landscape under Government Code sections 53260 and 53261, which limits severance payouts to public employees, while also addressing the important concepts of severance of illegal contract provisions in the context of an employment termination agreement.

The California Supreme Court has ruled that third parties (private citizens, taxpayers, watchdog groups, etc.) do not have legal standing to sue public agencies to invalidate contracts allegedly made in violation of Government Code section 1090.

A recent California Appellate Court ruling has determined that a public entity's award of a second contract to a construction firm did not create a conflict of interest even though it related to an earlier contract between the parties.

Governor Gavin Newsom signed Assembly Bill (AB) 1172 this fall, which imposes additional requirements upon nonpublic schools (NPSs), as well as the local educational agencies (LEAs) that place students in NPSs, in order to increase the safety and protection of students in NPS placements.

A University of California San Diego (UCSD) student newspaper, The Koala, brought suit against UCSD officials alleging that they defunded all print media in violation of the First Amendment.

Assembly Bills (AB) 493 outlines new requirements for school districts, county offices of education, and charter schools to train certificated employees, serving in grades 7 to 12, to support Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, and Questioning (LGBTQ) youth.

Data breaches are all but inevitable and occur in all types of organizations. Public entities are no exception, with cyber criminals increasingly targeting the wide-range of sensitive information they maintain (e.g., student data, resident data, confidential government infrastructure data, etc.).

Effective January 1, 2020, local agencies will be allowed to create their own public banks. Assembly Bill (AB) 857, known as California's Public Banking Act, allows local agencies and/or joint powers associations to organize nonprofit mutual benefit corporations for the purpose of engaging in the banking business.

A recent ruling of the Sixth District Court of Appeal found that a charter city, the City of San Jose, must abide by the California Surplus Land Act.