Judge with developer uncle to decide if Fresno voters see transportation tax on November ballot

Judge Lisa Gamoian will decide whether Fresno County voters get to vote on a half-cent transportation tax this November — or whether the county supervisors’ decision to delay it until 2028 stands.

The lawsuit, filed Aug. 12 by Fresno County, challenges a state law that forced the Better Roads, Safe Streets measure onto the November ballot after county supervisors voted to pause it. The measure would replace Measure C, the county’s longtime transportation tax that expires in June 2027.

Gamoian’s uncle, developer Ed Kashian, has contributed to supervisors on both sides of this fight. He gave campaign money to Board Chair Garry Bredefeld and Supervisor Buddy Mendes, who opposed the state’s intervention. But Kashian also publicly backed Fresno Mayor Jerry Dyer’s signature initiatives — and Dyer is one of the defendants named in the lawsuit, supporting the measure’s placement on the November ballot.

Advertisement

Kashian’s company also hired former Fresno County Supervisor Henry Perea as a consultant. Perea traveled to Sacramento earlier this month to speak against AB 1923, the bill Governor Gavin Newsom signed that forced the measure onto the ballot. As of January 2026, Gamoian is listed as a board officer with her uncle’s development company, Lance-Kashian & Company, according to a California Secretary of State filing.

The judge’s selection came after both sides disqualified two previous judges. Attorney General Rob Bonta filed to disqualify the first judge assigned, Robert Whalen, a former Clovis City Councilmember who served alongside current Supervisor Nathan Magsig and current Clovis Councilmember Lynne Ashbeck — both involved in the Better Roads dispute. Then the county filed to disqualify the second judge, Virna Santos, who had previously represented Assemblywoman Esmeralda Soria and three Fresno City councilmembers — all supporters of the measure.

The first hearing is scheduled for Aug. 25 at 3:30 p.m. But the ruling only matters if it comes before Sept. 9, when Fresno County’s ballot materials go to the printer.

The Breakdown

• Fresno County supervisors voted last month to delay the Better Roads, Safe Streets transportation tax measure from November 2026 to March 2028, citing concerns about the proposal’s details and implementation language.
• State legislators Esmeralda Soria and Anna Caballero then introduced AB 1923, which Governor Newsom signed, forcing the county to place the measure on the November ballot regardless of the supervisors’ vote.
• The county sued the state, their own elections clerk, and the Better Roads campaign on Aug. 12, arguing the state overrode local authority.
• Two judges were disqualified through legal challenges before Judge Lisa Gamoian was assigned to the case.
• The measure would extend the county’s half-cent transportation sales tax, which expires in June 2027 and has funded local road projects countywide.

What This Means for You

Whether you vote on this tax measure in November or not at all depends on Judge Gamoian’s ruling in the next two weeks. The county supervisors you elected chose to delay the measure — the state legislators you elected (or didn’t) passed a law to override them. That’s the tension a judge is now sorting out.

If the judge sides with the county, the measure disappears from your November ballot and may not return until 2028 — which means no replacement tax would be in place when Measure C expires in June 2027. If the judge sides with the state, you’ll vote on it this November as the legislature intended.

This isn’t just a procedural fight — it’s a question of which level of government you elected gets the final say over what appears on your local ballot.

What You Can Do

The hearing is scheduled for Aug. 25 at 3:30 p.m. in Fresno County Superior Court. Court hearings are generally public unless otherwise noted — check the Fresno County Superior Court’s website or call the clerk’s office to confirm access and location details.

What to Watch

The judge hearing this case has a documented family tie to a developer who has financially backed officials on both sides of the lawsuit. That doesn’t automatically mean bias — judges are allowed to have family in business, and Gamoian won her seat in a public election just like the supervisors did.

The timeline matters as much as the ruling itself. If the decision doesn’t come before Sept. 9, the ballot gets printed as the state legislature intended, and the county’s lawsuit becomes moot. A delayed ruling, in other words, is the same as a loss for the county.

And here’s the larger question this case raises: when state lawmakers override a local board’s vote, whose judgment are you trusting? The supervisors who cited confusion and concern about the measure’s language? Or the legislators and mayors who said 80% of the county’s mayors, representing more than 800,000 residents, wanted the measure on the ballot? Both groups were elected by someone — the fight is over whose election matters more in this instance.