Both the Assembly and Senate of the California Legislature, like other legislative bodies, utilize several rules, as well as customs and practices, for the purpose of ensuring that legislative deliberations and debate operate in a civil and orderly way. The...
In the California Legislature, there is an order to listing a bill’s authors and co-authors and there are different types of co-authors. What do the Joint Rules provide? Joint Rule 10.7, titled “Heading of Bills,” provides the following: “10.7. A...
Does the “revolving door” limitation apply to legislators and staff alike? Under Article IV, Section 5(e) of the state constitution, “The Legislature shall enact laws that prohibit a Member of the Legislature whose term of office commences on or after...
What is a general statute? A general statute is essentially a law that pertains uniformly to an entire community or all persons generally. What is a special statute? A special statute is essentially a law that applies to a particular person, place,...
What is a double-jointing plus section? This section is used to address when one bill would “chapter out” the language of a bill that amends the same code section if it got enacted earlier. What is an example of a...
What are a California bill’s “Digest Keys”? These “keys” cover four areas and the keys are determined by the Office of the Legislative Counsel (OLC) for each bill that the office drafts. What do the Digest Keys look like? At...
Did California always have to adopt a “balanced budget”? Probably, because prior provisions of the California Constitution were interpreted to require a balanced budget, at least to require the Governor to submit a balanced budget to the Legislature by January...