Chris Micheli

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

CA Legislative Explainer: How a Bill Becomes a Law  By Chris Micheli For those not fully acquainted with the California legislative process, new laws (called statutes) are enacted by the Legislature as bills (and signed by the Governor to become statutes). The Legislature can also amend or repeal existing statutes (also with the Governor’s action). Pursuant to Article IV, Section 8, “the Legislature may make no law except by statute, and enact no statute except by bill.” Statutes Need Bills Whether a statute is added, amended or repealed, that process must be done by a bill being passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor (unless he or she allows it to become law without a signature). According to the California Legislature, “the process of government by which bills are considered and laws enacted is commonly referred to as the legislative process.” About the Legislature and Process A bill must be approved by both houses of the Legislature before it is sent to the G

CA Legislative Explainer: Key End-of-Session Process Items  By Chris Micheli             Although the following items are not an exhaustive list, they cover some of the most frequently-asked questions regarding process items at the end of the California Legislative Session:   72-Hour In-Print Rule   A bill cannot be passed or become a statute unless that bill and any amendments have been in print and published on the Internet for at least 72 hours before the vote, unless the Governor has submitted a statement that the bill is needed to address a state of emergency. No bill may be passed unless a majority of members of each house votes in favor of the bill.   Consent Calendars   There are different rules between the Senate and Assembly regarding what is a measure for the consent calendar on their floors. For example, under Senate Rule 28.3(a), if a Senate bill or Assembly bill is amended in the Senate to create a new bill or to rewrite the bill, a standing committee may

CA Legislative Explainer: Reading a Bill  By Chris Micheli             In the California Constitution, Article IV, Section 8(b)(1), it explains that “ the Legislature may make no law except by statute and may enact no statute except by bill.” Reading a bill requires an understanding of the component parts of a bill. In terms of its anatomy, a bill contains the following major provisions: Legislative Session At the top of Assembly bills only, the following language appears: “California Legislature – 2023-2024 Regular Session.” Bill Number Which follows the words “Assembly Bill” or “Senate Bill. The Assembly Chief Clerk or the Secretary of the Senate assigns the bills numbers for each bill introduced in its respective house of origin Bill Author As well as joint, principal, and coauthors. The first line always lists the main author(s) who introduced the bill. Below the first line lists any principal coauthor and the next line lists any coauthor. Date Introduced As well as D

CA Legislative Explainer: Suspense File Process  By Chris Micheli The two Appropriations Committees in the California Legislature have a unique procedure they each use called the “Suspense File.” Basically, any bill which has been keyed “fiscal” by the Office of Legislative Counsel is re-referred to the fiscal committee in each house, which is called the Appropriations Committee, unless that measure is placed on consent or the amount of the bill’s fiscal impact is below a certain threshold established by the respective committees.   Under the rules of both houses of the Legislature (the Assembly and Senate), the Committees on Appropriations may maintain a suspense file, to which bills may be referred by a vote of a majority of the members of the committee that are present and voting, pending further consideration by the committee. A bill may be taken off the suspense file and heard upon two days’ notice published in the Assembly or Senate Daily File by a vote of a majority of th

CA Legislative Explainer: Possible Bills Actions by the Governor  By Chris Micheli   When a bill is passed by the Legislature and sent to the Governor, there are three actions that can occur: (1) sign the bill into law; (2) veto the bill; or (3) allow the bill to become law without a signature (aka “pocket signature”). The options available to the Governor can be found in Section 10 of Article IV of the California Constitution.   Signature by the Governor   Section 10(a) provides in part: “Each bill passed by the Legislature shall be presented to the Governor. It becomes a statute if it is signed by the Governor.” In general, the Governor has 12 days in which to act on a bill sent to him or her from the Legislature. That 12-day period begins once the bill has been “presented” to the Governor, not the day that the bill passed the Senate or Assembly.   The 12-day “signing” period is applicable to all bills that are presented to the Governor twelve or more days prior to the

CA Legislative Explainer: Legislative Publications  By Chris Micheli   There are a number of publications that are regularly used by the California Legislature. Of note is that several of these publications are specified in the California Government Code. Article I, Sections 9700-9708, deals generally with legislative publications. As an overarching provision, all printing for the Legislature and the individual houses is governed by the individual rules of the State Senate and the State Assembly, as well as their Joint Rules.   The Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly are charged with printing all of the legislative bills, resolutions and constitutional amendments proposed by their respective members. All of the legislative printing is done by the State Printing Office (SPO), which is required by statute to print the laws, including initiative measures, as well as any other printing that is ordered by either the Senate or the Assembly.   Daily Files  

CA Legislative Explainer: Gut-and-Amend Bills  By Chris Micheli One of the controversial occurrences during the annual California Legislative Session is so-called “gut-and-amend bills.” According to the Office of Legislative Counsel (i.e., the Legislature’s lawyers), these measures are defined as “when amendments to a bill remove the current contents in their entirety and replace them with different provisions.” The controversy is the second part of the process – replacing the bill’s contents with a subject which is unrelated to the original contents of the bill. Such amendments raise the legislative issue of “germaneness,” which refers to whether a proposed amendment is relevant to the subject matter currently contained in the measure. While Legislative Counsel may opine on the issue of germaneness, the determination of germaneness is decided by the Presiding Officer and, ultimately, subject to an appeal by the membership of the respective house.   As a result, a majority of the

CA Legislative Explainer: Effective and Operative Dates  By Chris Micheli There is often confusion regarding effective versus operative dates in California statutes. Specifically, individuals may inquire when a statute actually “takes effect.” When it takes effect can be different than when the statute is operative. January 1 following the year a bill is enacted is the most common effective date and is basically the “default” effective date. A common definition of “effective date” is when the new law is “on the books.” There are certain types of bills that are deemed to be in effect upon enactment (i.e., when the governor signed them and the secretary of state assigned a chapter number). However, unless the bill calls an election, contains an urgency clause, or is a budget-related bill or tax levy measure, one can presume the effective date of a new law is January 1 of the following year. On the other hand, a common definition of “operative date” is when the new law becomes ope

CA Legislative Explainer: General and Special Statutes  By Chris Micheli A general statute is essentially a law that pertains uniformly to an entire community or all persons generally. On the other hand, a special statute is essentially a law that applies to a particular person, place, or interest. California law provides for both types of statutes. California’s Constitution in Article IV, Section 16, provides “ (a) All laws of a general nature have uniform operation. (b) A local or special statute is invalid in any case if a general statute can be made applicable.” As a result, general statutes are the main type of statutes enacted and they apply uniformly by their language; however, special statutes can be pursued so long as a general statute would not apply in the particular circumstance. Working with the bill author, the Office of Legislative Counsel will make a determination whether a special statute will pass constitutional muster and, if so, how the bill must be drafted.

CA Legislative Explainer: Convening a New Legislative Session  By Chris Micheli   The  California Legislature  convenes a new two-year session every other December. California’s Constitution, in Article IV, Section 3(a), requires that “The Legislature shall convene in regular session at noon on the first Monday in December of each even-numbered year and each house shall immediately organize. Each session of the Legislature shall adjourn sine die by operation of the Constitution at midnight on November 30 of the following even-numbered year.”   There are additional provisions found in the California Government Code. Section 9020 provides that “The Legislature shall convene in regular session at the City of Sacramento at noon on the first Monday in December of each even-numbered year, and each house shall immediately organize.”   Section 9022 provides the following for the State Senate: “At the day and hour appointed for the assembling of any regular session of the Legislature

Data on California Veto Overrides With help from my friends, Alex Vassar and Brian Ebbert, in terms of the last successful bill veto overrides, those occurred in 1979. The last successful veto override was in February 1980, which was a line-item (appropriation) veto override. The appropriation was contained in SB 190. AB 580 (Lou Papan), which restricted the sale of insurance by bank holding companies, was the second bill veto override in 11 days in July 1979. And that bill was the third time Gov. Brown had a veto overridden. Gov Brown’s prior veto override was in 1977 on a bill dealing with the death penalty. The veto override earlier in July 1979 was on a bill granting state employees a retroactive pay increase. The Legislature overrode 5 bill vetoes during the period from 1979 to 1957. There have been no successful bill veto overrides since 1979, or in the past 45 years. There were also a number of bill veto override attempts during Gov Reagan’s final term in office, w

Categorizing Gubernatorial Vetoes -- 2024 I reviewed all 189 veto messages by GGN and put them into the following 7 categories. (Note that about a dozen of them had more than 1 reason attached) The percentage is the amount of the total veto messages in that category. (Again, these are my categories based upon my reading of the messages.) Budget Impact – 30% Unwarranted Policy Change – 27% Unnecessary (or being done by a state or local entity) – 22% Duplicative or Redundant – 8% Premature – 8% New Burden on a State Agency – 3% Vetoed a Similar Bill Previously – 2%

  In addition to the party breakdown I annually do on gubernatorial bill actions, this year I was asked about a gender breakdown. So, here it is: SIGNATURES (1) There are 22 men (55%) and 18 women (45%) comprising the 40-member State Senate. In 2024, of the bills signed by GGN, 54.5% were authored by male Senators and 45.5% were authored by female Senators. (2) There are 48 men (60%) and 32 women (40%) comprising the 80-member State Assembly. (One vacancy in the male rank currently.) In 2024, of the bills signed by GGN, 60% were authored by male Assembly Members and 40% were authored by female Assembly Members. VETOES In 2024, of the SBs vetoed by GGN, 50% were authored by male Senators and 50% were authored by female Senators. In 2024, of the ABs vetoed by GGN, 57% authored by male Assembly Members and 43% for female Assembly Members.