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The California Supreme Court has affirmed an appeals court ruling holding that an assessment collected to subsidize a grapes promotional campaign is constitutional and not compelled speech. Delano Farms Co. v. Cal. Table Grape Comm'n, No. S226538 (Cal., entered May 24, 2018). The growers argued that the program required them to "sponsor a viewpoint (promoting all California table grapes equally) with which they disagree" because they "believe that the table grapes they grow and ship are exceptional." The California Table Grape Commission asserted that the program was government speech rather than private speech, resulting in no free speech violation. The court concluded that the compelled grape subsidy constituted government speech, focusing on the "governmental direction and control" of the messaging. "In sum, the Commission was created by statute and given a specific mission to, among other things, promote in a generic fashion a particular agricultural product," the court held. "In…