Chris Micheli

A Look at 2025 Bill Introductions in the California Legislature By Chris Micheli In the first year in which bill introduction limits were reduced to 35 bills per Assembly Member and Senator for the two-year Session, we saw 2,350 bills introduced. Friday, February 21 was the deadline for bill introductions in the 2025 California Legislative Session. There were a total of 2,350 bills introduced by yesterday’s deadline for the first year of the 2025-26 Session. Last year’s total was 2,124 by the February 16, 2024 deadline. Of the total number of bills introduced this year, there were 1,500 Assembly Bills and 850 Senate Bills. Last year in the 2024 Session, there were 1,505 Assembly Bills and 619 Senate Bills introduced by the deadline. In addition, of this year’s total, there are 390 spot bills and 481 intent bills, for a total of 871 placeholder bills, which is 37% of the total bill introductions that lack substantive language upon introduction. (This figure is in line with histo...

What Are the Key Dates in Law for the State Budget?  By Chris Micheli                Many Capitol observers believe all of the relevant dates applicable to the state’s budget are contained in the California Constitution. However, there are only two dates found in the state Constitution. And, they are both found in Article IV dealing with the legislative branch of state government. So, which dates are constitutional requirements?                Article IV, Section 12(a) specifies that, “Within the first 10 days of each calendar year, the Governor shall submit to the Legislature, with an explanatory message, a budget for the ensuing fiscal year containing itemized statements for recommended state expenditures and estimated state revenues.” This is the first step in the calendar year for the state budget: the Governor submits their budget prop...

Interesting Preliminary Provisions of the Family Code  By Chris Micheli             California’s over 155,000 statutes are contained in 29 separate Codes. The ninth alphabetically is the Family Code. All 29 Codes have general or preliminary provisions applicable to reading and interpreting that Code’s sections. In reviewing those introductory provisions contained in the Family Code, a few of them caught my attention, including the following, and I have added some commentary:             Section 3 – A provision of this Code, if it is the same in substance as a provision of a uniform act, it is to be construed to effectuate the general purpose to make uniform the law in those states which enact that provision. Comment : Uniform acts are an important tool in drafting statutes both nationally and internationally. The idea behind a uniform act is that all legislative bodie...