Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. v. Padilla

Summary

The court retained jurisdiction despite the case being technically moot because the election had passed, concluding that the legality of legislative advisory questions presented an important and recurring issue. It held that the Legislature may use its implied investigative authority to place a nonbinding advisory question on the ballot concerning the exercise of its federal constitutional-amendment powers, and that Proposition 49 was reasonably related to those powers. The petition for a writ of mandate was denied, the prior stay was vacated, and the order to show cause was discharged.