Happy post election day, CalMatters reader,

We put this edition to bed before the final election results came in. Next week’s edition will look at local race results.

For updates from county elections, visit San Bernardino Registrar of Voters here, and Riverside Registrar of Voters here. For statewide races and propositions, follow our live election results page and live results day updates.

Last week, we reported on the federal requests to withhold certain ballots or risk prosecution. The requests were sent from the United States Department of Justice to the California Secretary of State and county registrars, including the registrars of San Bernardino and Riverside County. The 9th Circuit ruled that the officials cannot be forced by court order to withhold the ballots, but that the federal government cannot be forced by court order to stop threatening prosecution.

“The Government’s injury—being barred from requesting that the states segregate ballots from suspected noncitizens—cannot be undone after the fact,” wrote the majority opinion.

Chief Justice Mary Murguia dissented with four other justices.

“The Constitution’s allocation of election procedures to the states is meaningless if Defendants can coerce states into foregoing their chosen procedures by abusing their prosecutorial power,” she wrote.

Riverside hosted mayors from 11 of the state’s biggest cities last week to decide on a common legislative agenda.

Their agreements, as outlined at Riverside City Hall: recurring funding for housing projects, more resources to connect people to mental health resources and financial caps to personal injury lawsuits against cities.

The mayors gathered for Big City Mayors, an eight-year-old loose affiliation of 13 of California’s municipal leaders. Riverside Mayor Patricia Lock Dawson has headed the coalition this year. 

The Homeless Housing, Assistance and Prevention funding has built interim housing, but the cities need a permanent funding source to reduce the number of people sleeping on the street, said Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer. 

“We cannot operate year to year with the inconsistency of funding in the state budget,” he said.

(One example of that funding, not mentioned at the conference: San Bernardino County opened a 114-bed shelter last month, The Sun reported.)

The Press-Enterprise wrote on the requests for permanent funding: California Big City mayors push for continued state support for homeless program.

Local governments also need more funding to connect people with mental health issues to county resources, the mayors said. 

“We don’t have fund capacity or legal pathway to provide that,” said San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan.

Their final request: cut down on the rising cost of personal injury lawsuits against cities. 

Long Beach mayor Rex Richardson said rising costs in personal injury lawsuits against cities have been draining city finances. He cited a $5 million jury verdict his city had to pay for a fallen tree branch. The verdict provided $188,000 for medical expenses and $4.9 million for non-economic damages.

"Imagine how many trees can be maintained with $5 million," Richardson said.

The Press-Enterprise’s David Allen wrote on what Lock Dawson’s term as head of the Big City Mayors Coalition has meant for the political power of Riverside:  First, an Inland Empire mayor is leading a state coalition of cities, most of which are bigger than hers. And as part of this coalition, Riverside is playing on a larger stage.

Inland Empire Law Weekly wrote on the details the mayors are asking to reform personal injury suits: 13 CA mayors set personal injury reform as legislative priority.

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