Dive summary:

• The California court of appeals has upheld the ruling of a lower court to allow use of recycled biosolids in agricultural settings in Kern County California.
• County voters decided to ban the use of agricultural fertilizer made from recycled municipal sewage sludge and biosolids in unincorporated areas of the county but farmers decided to fight the decision.
• The court overturned the ban by saying that the ban conflicts with a state constitutional principle, the regional welfare doctrine, because it damages Southern California communities that rely on recycling biosolids for farmland.

From the article:

The ruling supported a preliminary injunction against a county measure passed by voters designed to ban in unincorporated areas of the county the use of agricultural fertilizer made from recycled municipal sewage sludge, or biosolids. The Fifth Appellate District for California supported the city of Los Angeles and other plaintiffs in upholding a Superior Court judgment, according to the court opinion.

The appeals court agreed with the plaintiffs that the ballot measure is pre-empted by the California Integrated Waste Management Act and it conflicts with a state constitutional principle known as the regional welfare doctrine, because it damages Southern California communities that rely on recycling biosolids to farmland, added Jimmy Slaughter, counsel for Los Angeles with the firm of Washington-based Beveridge & Diamond P.C., in an e-mail. ...