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. ' 1.A -l5 RECENT LEGAL ADVOCACY FILINGS -, The League would like to provide special thanks Presumption of Bias and Due Process to the indiv.iduals listed below, who wrote friend-of-the- court letters or briefs, for thej~ efforts on behalf of the The League filed a friend-of-thlKOUrt letter brief League. League action and ...brief summary of the urging the California Supreme Court to hear a case case appear below. Copies of."e filings are available concluding that a deputy city attomey that appeared at: www.cacities,orclrecentfilinas. before a city personnel board as an advocate on a disciplinary matter is presumed to be biased because Telecommunications Filings the deputy had previously advised the board on unrelated matters. There were two cases that the League recently The League thanks Kevin Collins with Best, weighed in on involving local governments and telecommunications issues, The first impacts the Best and Kreiger, for writing the letter brief on ability of local governments to regulate use of the behalf of the League. The opinion presents signifi- public rights-of-way by communication providers, and cant concem for local governments, and particularly their ability to collect franchise fees to fund local those with small legal staffs because it concludes that services, The second case involves municipal liability an attomey who has interacted with an administrative for attorneys' fees relating to application denials for board on several occasions may not serve in a wireless telephone towers. prosecutorial function due to the probability of influ- ence on the board compromising the fair hearing The League filed a friend-of-the-court letter brief process. urging the California Supreme Court to hear a case The name of the case is Quintero v. City of Santa that concluded a city may not charge a telephone Ana, 114 Cal. App. 4~ 10 W Dist. Dec. 23, 2003) corporation a license fee to use the public rights of mview filed (Jan. 28, 2004). way to construct and maintain facilities that are not intended for use as telephone lines. The League CEQA and Farmland Mitigation thanks William Sanders with the City and County of - San Francisco for writing the letter brief on behalf of The court of appeal recently issued an unpub- the League. lished opinion concluding that if the environmental impact of a project converting farmland to urban use The name of the case is Williams Communica- can not be mitigated below a level of significance, tions v. City of Riverside, 114 Cal. App. 4~ 642, 9 Cal. other mitigation measure must still be adopted if they Rptr. 3d 96 (4" Dist. Dec.18, 2003). would substantially lessen the environmental impact of the project. Adopting a statement of overriding The League filed a friend-of-the-court brief urging consideration does not exempt the local agency from the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals to grant rehearing mitigating measures such as the payment of fees for en banc in a case that would allow individuals to conservation easements to limit Mure loss of farm- recover attorneys fees for violations of the T elecom- land. munication Act of 1996. The League thanks Jennifer Henning with the California State Association of The League thanks Dan McHugh, City Attor- Counties for writing the brief on behalf of the League ney, Redlands, for writing the brief on behalf of the and the California State Association of Counties. League. The current opinion would expose local govern- The name of the case is South County Citizens ments to increased liability because telecommunica- for Responsible Growth v. City of Bk Grove, currently tion companies may elect to sue cities when their unpublished (3d Dist. Feb. 5.2004). Since the applications to install wireless telephone towers are opinion is currently unpublished it may not be relied denied and potentially recovery attorney's fees. upon by other local agencies. There is a request for publication currently pending with the California The name of the case is Abmms v, City of Ranqhp Supreme Court. Palos Verdes, 354 F.3d 1094 (9~ Cir. Jan 15, 20d4t.'. - Visit the League's Official Web Site--www.cacities.org PRIORITY FOCUS/PAGE 3