On the third try, the case to decide the future of Fresno County’s proposed transportation tax now has a judge and a first hearing date.

Fresno County Superior Court assigned the county’s case against the state and Fresno County Clerk/Registrar of Voters James Kus to Lisa Gamoian. A status conference hearing has been scheduled for Aug. 25 at 3:30 p.m.

This comes after the county rejected judge Virna Santos and the California attorney general’s office rejected Robert Whalen, with both parties saying those respective judges would be prejudiced against their side.

Gamoian became a judge in 2015 after a successful career as a homicide prosecutor that included the successful death-penalty prosecution of mass murderer Marcus Wesson.

How the County Got Into the Fight

The county sued the state and Kus after legislators and Gov. Gavin Newsom approved AB 1923, which forced Measure S — then called Better Roads Safe Streets — onto the November ballot.

The county maintains that the state overstepped its authority in approving AB 1923 with an “urgency” stipulation.

A majority of supervisors had said because the ballot initiative was not approved until after the Aug. 7 deadline, caused by a requested study from supervisors and too many errors in petition signatures from organizers, it would go on the March 2028 ballot.

Kus told supervisors that he interpreted AB 1923 to mean that he would put the tax measure onto the November ballot regardless of their intentions.