The California Legislative Process

• Citation: Vol. 13 No. 3
• Publication year: 2007
• Author: By Tracy M. Potts and Silvio Reggiardo, III

THE CALIFORNIA LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

By Tracy M. Potts^* and Silvio Reggiardo, III^**

In the first half of each calendar year, the California Legislature and the other individuals and entities involved in the legislative process begin working with proposed legislation that may become California law. As many of its members are already aware, the Executive Committee of the Trusts and Estates Section ("TEXCOM") also works busily during this process, proposing and monitoring bills that may affect the law of trusts and estates. In this article, the authors, one a past and the other a present chair of TEXCOM's legislative subcommittee, summarize the legislative process and discuss some recent trusts and estates legislative developments.

I. SUMMARY OF LEGISLATIVE PROCESS

A. The Legislature

California, like the federal government, has a bicameral legislature. There is a 40-member Senate and an 80-member Assembly. The legislators represent people in different areas of the state. Both houses must approve legislation by a majority, or in some cases, a two-thirds vote, in order to enact a law. In virtually all instances, the Governor also must sign the legislation into law.

1. Bill Inception

Typically, the legislative process begins when a legislator, a constituent, or a interested group such as TEXCOM, sponsors a bill by proposing a statute or a statutory amendment. If the sponsor is a legislator, he or she will author the bill. Otherwise, the sponsor must find a legislator who will agree to act as the author. Either way, once authored, the bill will be introduced in the legislative house of the author, i.e., in the Assembly or the Senate. Bills introduced in the Assembly are assigned AB (Assembly Bill) numbers, and bills introduced in the Senate are assigned SB (Senate Bill) numbers.

2. First Reading and Committee Assignment

At the first reading, the Clerk of the Assembly or the Secretary of the Senate reads on the floor of the bill's house of origin the bill's author and title. The Office of State Printing prints and distributes copies of the bill, and the Rules Committee for the house of origin assigns the bill to at least one legislative committee. In many cases, the Rules Committee assigns bills to several committees. Committee assignments depend upon the bill's area of law. For example, the Senate and Assembly judiciary committees typically hear probate bills. The appropriations committees for both houses must hear all bills requiring funds expenditures. Except in extraordinary circumstances, the California Constitution prevents committees from acting on a bill until 30 days after the first reading in the house of origin. At least a majority of each assigned committee must approve of the bill before it may proceed to the next step of the legislative process.

3. Second and Third Readings

The clerk for each committee hearing a bill will read the bill on the committee floor. Accordingly, bills assigned to multiple committees go through several second readings. If the bill receives majority approval in each committee, it passes out of committee to the full house of origin. The clerk of the house of origin then reads the bill on house floor (i.e., in the house chambers) in a third reading. Legislators may debate the bill in a full house hearing. The bill will pass out of its house of origin only if a sufficient number of legislators vote for the bill. It must receive 21 votes in the Senate and 41 votes in the Assembly (27 and 54, respectively, for urgency and certain other special bills).

4. Same Process Repeated

The other house then puts the bill through the same process. This means that the corresponding committees of the non-originating houses will hear the bill. A conference committee of three legislators from each house will attempt to resolve any differences that arise from amendments made to the bill in the second, non-originating, house. If the conference committee reaches agreement, both houses will vote on the amended bill.

5. Time Frames

To keep a bill alive, each committee in a house must approve the bill by a simple majority vote within certain statutory deadlines. For odd-numbered years, the bill's house of origin must pass the bill by January 31 of the year following the year of the bill's introduction. For even-numbered years, the house of origin must pass the bill by August 31 of the same year. For example, if a member of the Assembly introduces a bill in February 2007, all Assembly committees and the full Assembly must approve the bill and send it to the Senate by January 31, 2008, or the bill will die. As another example, if a member of the Senate introduces a bill in February 2008, all Senate committees and the full Senate must approve the bill and send it to the Assembly by August 31, 2008.

The key dates in the legislative calendar for 2007 were as follows:

January 3 - Legislature reconvened.¹
February 23 - Last day for bills to be introduced.²
April 27 - Last day for policy committees to hear and report fiscal bills for referral to fiscal committees.³
May 11 - Last day for policy committees to hear and report to the floor non-fiscal bills.⁴
May 25 - Last day for policy committees to meet prior to June 11.⁵

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June 1 - Last day for fiscal committees to hear and report bills to the floor.⁶ Last day for fiscal committees to meet prior to June 11.⁷
June 4-8 - Floor session (meetings in full house chambers) only. No Committee may meet for any purpose.⁸
June 8 - Last day to pass bills out of house of origin.⁹
July 13 - Last day for policy committees to hear and report bills.¹⁰
August 31 - Last day for fiscal committees to meet and report bills to the floor.¹¹
September 3-14 - Floor session (meetings in full house chambers) only. No committee may meet for any purpose.¹²
September 7 - Last day to for either house to amend a bill on the floor.¹³
September 14 - Last day for any bill to be passed.¹⁴
October 14 - Last day for Governor to sign or veto bills passed by the Legislature on or before September 14 and in the Governor's possession after Sept.¹⁵

6. Hearings and Negotiation

a. Committee Hearings

Interested parties may submit written comments to legislators on a committee set to hear a bill. Legislators consider these comments to gauge whether the public will support or oppose a bill and whether the bill is controversial. Well-organized and well-reasoned position papers (often in conjunction with subsequent personal meetings with legislators or staff) can be the most effective means to advocate a position on a bill.

Legislative committees also allow public comment during committee hearings. Committee chairs often conduct these hearings in a fairly informal and unstructured manner despite procedural hearing rules. Committee members unanimously approve of Consent Calendar bills in a single block without a hearing. The author of any bill not on the Consent Calendar must present the bill to the committee. The author summarizes the bill from a podium next to a witness table. In many instances (particularly for highly technical or controversial bills) the author produces witnesses who testify regarding the bill under severe time constraints and not under oath. Those opposing a bill may also testify. Committee members sometimes ask tough questions and on occasion launch into their own presentations (something not technically allowed but often seen with politically charged bills). In most instances, time constraints prevent the committee from hearing more than two witnesses for either position. In some cases, long lines of people with positions stream up to a packed witness table and simply state their positions and whom they represent. (The limits on detailed testimony are another reason why effective written position papers can be so critical.) The author then concludes by asking for the committee's favorable vote.

Quite often, only a few committee members actually sit behind the committee-member bench to hear testimony on any given bill. Legislators, who frequently work with closed-circuit televisions in their offices, may come and go as a hearing proceeds. The committee may act (even as a committee of just the chairperson) provided that at some point during the hearing a quorum of committee members exists. The committee chair calls for votes and may hold votes open pending arrival of a quorum, at which point the Sergeant at Arms takes the roll...