2023-24 State Senate: Did You Know?

In reviewing the recently-concluded 2023-24 California Legislative Session, the following are three areas of interest for the State Senate. 

Bills

The first topic is bills. The total number of bill introductions over the 2-year Session was 1,530 Senate Bills. Of those, 1,199 SBs were passed by the Senate, and 796 SBs were enrolled and sent to the Governor.

Senators and Standing Committee Assignments

The second topic is Senators’ committee assignments. These are only for standing committees, and do not include select or joint committees.  The average number of standing committee assignments per Senator was 3, but the highest number was 10 and the lowest number was zero. Three Senators served on 8 committees, while 7 Senators served on 7 committees.

Senators and Bill Introductions

The third topic is Senators’ bill introductions. Senate Rule 22.5 caps the number of bills that can be introduced during a 2-year session to 40 per Senator, but that cap can be exceeded due to a Rules Committee waiver, amending the lead author, etc.

The average number of bills introduced per Senator was 35. The highest number of bill introductions was 47, while the lowest was 9. Twelve Senators hit the maximum cap of 40 bills, while four Senators exceeded the 40-bill cap. So, 16 Senators were at or above the cap, which represents 40% of the body’s members.