By Kevin Yamamura, Sacramento Bee

In a significant budget win for Gov. Jerry Brown and lawmakers, the California Supreme Court ruled Thursday the state can eliminate the local agencies that subsidize construction in blighted areas.

The decision strengthens the state’s ability to take $1.7 billion from redevelopment agencies for the current budget. It also provides leverage for state leaders to continue using redevelopment property tax dollars to balance future budgets.

The court ruled invalid a second bill that would have reconstituted redevelopment agencies in a different form.

The court called the elimination of redevelopment “a proper exercise of the legislative power vested in the Legislature by the state Constitution.”

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