SACRAMENTO — California Attorney General Rob Bonta and Secretary of State Shirley N. Weber, Ph.D. today issued the following statements in response to the Orange County Superior Court’s order vacating its prior decisions concerning Huntington Beach’s Measure A. Measure A amended the city’s charter to purportedly allow the city to impose additional voting restrictions prohibited by state law for all municipal elections starting in 2026.
On November 15, 2024, the Orange County Superior Court concluded that the state’s lawsuit against Huntington Beach over Measure A was “not ripe for adjudication” because the measure “is permissive and discretionary in character, and thus currently presents no conflict with state elections law.” On December 16, 2024, the court dismissed the lawsuit on that basis. The court has now vacated its earlier orders, concluded that “there is a ripe justiciable controversy,” and set a hearing on the state’s petition for writ of mandate on April 3, 2025.
“Today is a good day. Our lawsuit against Huntington Beach can officially continue,” said Attorney General Rob Bonta. “All along, Secretary of State Weber and I have asserted that it is not too early to bring our lawsuit. Earlier this month, the California Fourth District Court of Appeal suggested that it agreed with us and asked the Orange County Superior Court to decide whether it would reverse course. The Orange County Superior Court has now done that, and a hearing on the merits will take place in April.”
“With today’s order, we are one step closer in our effort to protect each eligible Californian’s right to vote,” said Secretary of State Shirley Weber.
A copy of the court’s order can be found here.