CA Attorney General Defends Water Rate Penalties To Encourage Conservation
SACRAMENTO (CBS/AP) -- California Attorney General Kamala Harris is asking the state's Supreme Court to strictly limit a lower court's ruling that local water rates designed to encourage conservation are unconstitutional.
Harris says the decision by the 4th District Court of Appeal contains "unnecessary and overbroad language" that could hurt the state's efforts to combat the drought.
The April ruling found that the city of San Juan Capistrano's practice of penalizing bigger water users with higher rates was unconstitutional. The city has already settled with the plaintiff, the Capistrano Taxpayers Assn.
But Harris asked the Supreme Court to "depublish" the decision, which wouldn't change the outcome of the case but would mean it couldn't be cited as precedent in other trial or appellate courts.
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