A Look at 2025 Bill Introductions in the California Legislature

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 historical data, versus 2023’s 40% figure.)

Last year, the 2024 Session had 481 spot bills and 193 intent bills, for a total of 674 placeholder bills, which is about 32% of the total bill introductions that lack substantive language upon introduction.

In comparing first year introductions, in the 2023 Session, there was a total of 2,632 bills that were introduced by the February 17, 2023 deadline. As I have previously written, for more than two decades of tracking bill introductions and final actions, the first (odd-numbered year) always has more bill introductions than the second year.

For comparison purposes, the following is the list of the total number of bills introduced by the two houses by the applicable deadline each February over the past thirteen years:

Total 2025 bill introductions as of the deadline: 2,350
Total 2024 bill introductions as of the deadline: 2,124
Total 2023 bill introductions as of the deadline: 2,632
Total 2022 bill introductions as of the deadline: 2,020
Total 2021 bill introductions as of the deadline: 2,369
Total 2020 bill introductions as of the deadline: 2,203
Total 2019 bill introductions as of the deadline: 2,576
Total 2018 bill introductions as of the deadline: 2,177
Total 2017 bill introductions as of the deadline: 2,495
Total 2016 bill introductions as of the deadline: 1,993
Total 2015 bill introductions as of the deadline: 2,297
Total 2014 bill introductions as of the deadline: 1,930
Total 2013 bill introductions as of the deadline: 2,256

In addition, in reviewing bill introductions over the past 19 years:

The lowest number of bill introductions during this time in the Senate was 641 (in the 2014 Session) and the highest was 1,052 (in the 2007 Session). The 2023 total ranked third highest in the past 19 years, while the 2025 total ranked fourth highest.

The lowest number of bill introductions during this time in the Assembly was 1,209 (in the 2010 Session) and the highest was 1,833 (in the 2019 Session). The 2023 total ranked second highest in the past 19 years (which was the exact same number as in the 2007 Session), while the 2025 total ranked eleventh highest.