Courts Strike Down California Diversity Statutes

Two recent rulings by California state court judges have struck-down California statutes that were intended to foster diversity at California-based public companies. In the first case, Crest v. Padilla, No. 20-STCV-37513 ("Padilla I"), the court held that a California statute – Assembly Bill 979 (or AB 979) – that sought to expand boardroom diversity by requiring such companies to seat at least one person from historically underrepresented communities, was unconstitutional. In the most recent case, captioned Crest v. Padilla, No. 19-STCV-27561 ("Padilla II"), the court similarly ruled that a statute – Senate Bill 826 (or SB 826) – requiring California-based public companies to seat a minimum number of women on the boards of directors of those companies, was unconstitutional. We previously wrote about AB 979 here and SB 826 here.