CA Legislative Explainer: Urgency Clause Measures
CA Legislative Explainer: Urgency Clause Measures By Chris Micheli Bills signed into law by the Governor that contain an urgency clause become urgency statutes or urgency clause statutes. California Constitution Article IV, Section 8 deals with urgency statutes. Section 8(c)(3) provides that urgency clause bills go into effect immediately upon their enactment. That is the major distinction between a regular bill and an urgency clause bill. The regular bill takes effect on the following January 1 (or later) while the urgency clause bill takes effect immediately. What determines an urgency? Section 8(d) specifies that “ urgency statutes are those necessary for immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety.” Because of this definition, an urgency measure must contain an urgency clause which specifies why the bill qualifies for this special status based upon this definition. In this regard, Section 8(d) requires “a statement of facts constituting the necessity shall