Bills considered in the California Legislature without controversy are placed on the “consent calendar,” which means that the bill does not have to be presented by its author or debated by legislators. All bills on the consent calendar are dispensed...
As the California Legislature is a bicameral body, after a bill has been passed by its house of origin, it is transmitted to the other house for further consideration. If the second house makes amendments to the bill, then the...
In the California Legislature, generally committees deal with legislation before passing measures to the Floor of either the Assembly or Senate. However, there are rare instances where legislators choose to return a bill to committee when it is pending on...
The California Constitution requires a bill to be “read” three times before it can be debated and voted upon by either house. A “reading” of a bill in the Assembly or Senate is defined as being the presentation of the...
The two Appropriations Committees in the California Legislature have a unique procedure they each use called the “Suspense File.” Basically, any bill which has been keyed “fiscal” by the Legislative Counsel is referred to the fiscal committee in each house,...
By Chris Micheli and Diane Boyer-Vine As part of its efforts to enhance its Capital Lawyering Program, the University of the Pacific, McGeorge School of Law offers a number of courses to train aspiring lawyers who plan to work in...
An area that is rarely talked about in California’s Capitol community concerns the infrequent lobbying of bill referrals. In other words, how does someone get a bill referred to a favorable committee? Or an unfavorable committee? Or maybe multiple committees?...