LA Metro defends ballot initiative generating $120 billion for transportation improvements in Los Angeles County

Client(s) Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority

Jones Day won a trial for Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority ("Metro") in response to a petition brought by seven cities in LA County, a registered voter and a joint powers authority challenging a measure adopted by the Metro Board and scheduled to be placed on the November 8, 2016 ballot. The measure, known as Measure M, increases the sales tax in LA County and is expected to generate more than $120 billion over the next forty years to fund numerous traffic and transportation improvements, including extension of the Purple Line subway system to Beverly Hills, UCLA and West Los Angeles, extension of the Green Line to Los Angeles International Airport, a new subway line between West Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley and improvement projects on the major freeways throughout Los Angeles County. Measure M also allows work on certain projects to be accelerated in connection with LA's bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics. The petitioners raised a number of legal challenges in an attempt to force Metro to remove Measure M from the ballot or rewrite the ballot label to make it more difficult for the measure to pass. Due to the County Registrar's need to finalize and print ballot materials in time for the election, the trial on the petition was conducted on an expedited basis. The court rejected the petition in its entirety and all of the arguments raised by petitioners. The Measure remained on the ballot as described by Metro and was passed by more than two-thirds of Los Angeles County voters.

City of Carson v. Logan, No. BS164554 (Cal. Super.)