A California Republican

A bill is a proposal to change, add, repeal or amend existing state law. An Assembly bill (AB) is one which has been proposed in the Assembly and has an Assemblymember as the author and a Senate bill (SB) is one which is proposed in the Senate and has a Senator as the author. The house in which the bill is proposed is called the house of origin.  Bills also have numbers attached to them - such as AB 24. The number is based on the order in which bills are introduced into their house of origin. The numbering restarts each session.

Drafting: Drafting is the first stage. It begins with constituents, lobbyists, staff, or the member proposing ideas. These ideas are then taken to the Legislative Counsel’s office, where lawyers draft them into bill form. Many ideas come from sources other than the legislator (member). Often times, constituents will write with ideas. Once the lawyers have returned the idea to the legislator in bill form, the member reviews it and decides if they would like to author the bill. Members have a limit of 40 bills they can introduce in a 2-year session, so each idea is reviewed carefully before the member decides to author the bill. If the member decides the bill is a good idea, then they introduce the bill.

Introduction/First Reading: A bill is introduced or read for the first time when the bill number, the name of the author, and the descriptive title (which is read by the clerk as, “a bill relating to [insert subject here]) is read o the floor of the house. The bill is then sent to the Office of State Printing for, well, printing. No bill may be acted upon until 30 days from the date of the first reading. Historical Note: The 30 day waiting period was originally instituted when communication between people was more difficult and less reliable than the internet. The waiting period was in effect to allow all members of the Legislature to have access to the bill in order to read it and form an opinion before that bill was sent to a committee.

The Rules Committee(s): One important function of the Rules committee is to “assign out” bills. This means that the Rules committee meets and decides which bills go to which committee based on subject matter. The Rules committee does not have to refer out bills. They can hold bills in the committee, never refer them out, and have them die that way. It is not often done, but it can, and has, happened.  Bills which require an expenditure of funds are also assigned to the Appropriations committee. The Appropriations committee can also “pull” bills - hear them if they want to hear them even if they are not assigned to the Appropriations committee by Rules.

Committee hearing(s): Each policy committee has a chair and a co-chair, the chair sets the order of the bills to be heard. Prior to the committee hearing, the author’s office has filled out a background sheet and given it to the committee consultants who then draft an analysis. The background sheet asks for information such as: sponsor, fiscal impact of the bill, reason for the bill, the problem the bill is supposed to fix and how the bill will fix that problem. Then the consultants draft and analysis for the chair, which the chair and the members of the committee who share the chair’s opinion will use when voting. The author also must provide any letters of support or opposition which they receive regarding the bill.

During the committee hearing the author presents the bill to the committee. Testimony can be heard in support or opposition to the bill. The author generally provides certain witnesses who can speak to the problem and solution in the bill. However, the general public is also invited to give their opinion of the bill at the end of the author’s presentation. The committee then votes by passing the bill, passing the bill as amended, or defeating the bill.

Bills can be amended before their committee hearing and during their committee hearing. The consultants can request amendments, the author can request amendments, and the committee can request amendments. This can be done several times and can result in more than one committee hearing on the bill.

The author can decide that the bill is not ready to go to committee and pull it from the committee agenda. However, this can only be done a limited number of times before the bill is placed on the inactive file and no further action can be taken on it.

Special Rules in the Senate: