Are There Exceptions to the Legislative Committee Deadlines?

Joint Rule 61 of the Joint Rules of the Senate and Assembly in the California Legislature relates to deadline. Joint Rule 61(a) concerns the deadlines in the odd-numbered (first) year, while JR 61(b) concerns the deadlines in the even-numbered (second) year of the 2-year Session.

According to JR 61, “the deadlines set forth in this rule shall be observed by the Senate and Assembly. After each deadline, the Secretary of the Senate and the Chief Clerk of the Assembly may not accept committee reports from their respective committees except as otherwise provided in this rule.”

Despite this general rule, there are a number of exemptions under Joint Rule 61 deadlines. These include the following:

• Joint and Concurrent Resolutions are exempt from these deadlines (J.R. 6).

• Bills acted upon by a committee deadline for which amendments are recommended have two legislative days after that deadline during which they may be reported (J.R. 61(c)).

• Rules Committees are exempt from these deadlines (J.R. 61(f)).

• Bills which are referred to a committee are exempt from these deadlines (see also J.R. 61(g), J.R. 61(h)).

• Bills related to the budget under subdivision (e) of Section 12 of Article IV of the California Constitution are exempt from these deadlines (J.R. 61(i)).

• A policy committee or fiscal committee may meet for the purpose of hearing and reporting a constitutional amendment, or a bill which would go into immediate effect pursuant to Section 8 of Article IV of the California Constitution, at any time other than those periods when no committee may meet for any purpose (J.R. 61(i)).

Capitol observers should keep in mind these specific exemptions from the Joint Rule 61 deadlines.