California Bills: Introduced Versus Enacted

I am often asked about the number of bills that get introduced each year in comparison to the number of bills that actually get to the Governor’s Desk, and then the number of bills that ultimately get signed into law or vetoed. As a result, I have put together the following chart to compile these figures over the past 33 years.

This chart covers just over the past three decades. It is based upon the Session year, and then lists the numbers of Senate Bills (SBs) and Assembly Bills (ABs) introduced each year, then the number of bills sent to the Governor’s Desk.

The percentage in the fifth column (total bills sent to Governor) is the percentage of bills reaching the governor’s desk in comparison to the number of bills introduced that year. The last two columns are the numbers of bills signed into law and the number of bills vetoed (and their respective percentages of the bills that reached the Governor’s Desk that session year).

With the exception of the first year of the COVID-19 pandemic (2020), the percentage of bills that reach the Governor’s Desk in comparison to the number of bills introduced that year ranges from a low of 32% [in 1992] to a high of 70% [in 1994]. That means that, for all the bills introduced each year, anywhere from about 1/3 to more than 2/3 of them reach the Governor’s Desk. The 33-year average is 45% of the introduced bills reach the Governor’s Desk.

Over the last thirty-three years, the average percentage of bills that reach the Governor’s Desk in comparison to the number of bills introduced is 45%. As a result, over the past three decades, just shy of 1 out of every 2 bills introduced in the California Legislature reaches the Governor’s Desk for final actions. During that same time, the average veto rate was 17.6%, and the average signature rate was 82.4%.

The following chart contains the breakdown of the date over the past three decades: