Taxpayer standing in Taking Offense and OSPD v. Bonta
Overview The California Supreme Court looks set to resolve a question about taxpayer standing in Taking Offense v. State of California (S270535) and Office of the State Public Defender v. Bonta (S284496): does the common law recognize taxpayer standing actions against state officials? If not, taxpayers may lack standing to sue state officials at all. Although California grants express statutory permission for taxpayers to sue any local entity, there is no parallel statutory grant for suits against state actors. Thus far, most authorities have assumed that common-law taxpayer standing also exists against state officials. But the issue has never been...
