AB 257, termed the Fast Food Accountability and Standards Recovery Act or the FAST Act, proposes to establish a Fast Food Sector Council to regulate California’s fast food restaurants. The law was signed by Governor Newsom on September 5, 2022. However, the following day, a coalition in opposition to the law started the process for a referendum of the Act. On December 5, 2022, the coalition submitted over 1 million signatures in support of the referendum to qualify for the November 2024 ballot.

Despite the signatures being submitted to the state, the Department of Industrial Relations said on December 27, 2022 that would continue to implement and enforce the law on January 1, 2023. The coalition challenging the law filed a lawsuit seeking to stop the enforcement of the law while the signature verification process is underway.

On January 13, 2023, the Superior Court of Sacramento held that the state could not proceed with enforcing the law while the referendum process was underway. The court found “there is very little harm” to the state and the public in staying the implementation of AB 257 until the signature verification process is completed. The court explained, “The harm to California citizens and electors, in contrast, is great given the Court’s duty to ‘jealously guard’ the people’s right to referendum and the confusion that would occur if AB 257 were temporarily implemented while signatures were verified, and the confusion and uncertainty that could occur if the...

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