Photo: FLLewis / Media City G — Brown lawn on North Brighton Street in Burbank June 3, 2015
An ugly brown lawn may be an eyesore to some, but it’s not a finable offense in the state of California. Yesterday, Governor Jerry Brown signed into law Assembly Bill 1, which protects those brown or golden lawns for now. The legislation “… prohibit a city, county, or city and county from imposing a fine under any ordinance for a failure to water a lawn or having a brown lawn during a period for which the Governor has issued a proclamation of a state of emergency based on drought conditions.” The measure was authored by Assemblywoman Cheryl Brown (D) San Bernardino.
I have heard complaints from some Burbank residents about neighbors allowing their lawns to die and weeds and wild grasses to grow high and thick. I’ve seen some of those yards. Not very pretty. However, with the water restrictions were under there is probably little that can be done about residents who REALLY let their yards go native.
