What Happens When an Author is Not Presenting his or her Bill?

What happens when a bill author is not available to present his or her bill in a committee of the California Legislature? The general practice is for another legislator to present the bill in the missing legislator’s absence.

The first choice is usually a joint author or a co-author. Next is line is often a member of the legislative committee that is considering the bill. In any of these instances, the permission of the committee chair is usually secured.

For example, in one Assembly committee’s rules, it provides: “If an author is unable to present their bill, another member of the Legislature may present.”

Another Assembly committee has this more detailed rule: “Presentation of Another Member’s Bill: If an author is unable to present their bill, another Member of the Legislature, or a member of the author’s staff, may, with the permission of the Chair, present the bill on the behalf of the author. The request to the Chair shall be made in writing and provide authorization for a specific individual to present the bill. No lobbyist, sponsor, or member of the public may present the bill before the committee.

Although I have not seen it happen in many years, last week a legislative staff member presented a bill on behalf of their legislator. While unique today, historically, this was done frequently. The process was to submit a letter on the legislator’s letterhead designating the staff member to present the bill instead of his or her boss. The committee would allow it, but make the staffer present present last on the hearing agenda.

However, that practice seemed to have been abandoned more than a decade ago in favor of having another legislator (still at the request of the author) present the bill on behalf of the absent legislator.