A California Legislative Committee. (Photo: Kevin Sanders for California Globe)
A Closer Look at the Appropriations Committees’ Suspense File Outcomes
91% of the measures that passed off the Suspense File were authored by Democrats; 8% by Republicans
By Chris Micheli, May 20, 2023 7:20 am
On May 18, 2023, the California Senate and Assembly Committees on Appropriations took votes on the measures on their respective Suspense Files. This article takes a look at the specifics of the committees’ actions.
Senate Appropriations Committee Actions
The total number of measures on the Suspense File was 416. 90% of the measures on the Suspense File were authored by Democrats and 10% were authored by Republicans.
90 measures did not pass off the Suspense File, which represents 22% of the total. Of those 90 measures, 70 were “held” (17% of the total) and are therefore dead, while 20 (5% of the total) were designated “2-year bills” (called “carryover bills” in the state Constitution) and will be voted upon in January 2024.
In regards to the partisan breakdown of the measures that did not pass off the Suspense File, 76 measures were authored by Democrats (which was 20% of the total of all Democrat-authored measures), while 14 measures were authored by Republicans (which was 33% of the total of all Republican-authored measures). Interestingly, all 20 measures made “2-year bills” are authored by Democrats. Of all the measures that were held (90), 84% were authored by Democrats and 16% were authored by Republicans.
326 measured received either a Do Pass (214 of them – 51% of the total) or Do Pass as Amended (112 of them – 27% of the total) vote, which represents 78% of the total. 297 of the measures that passed off the Suspense File were authored by Democrats, which represents 91% of the passed bills, while 29 of the measures that passed were authored by Republicans, which was 9% of the total.
Assembly Appropriations Committee Actions
The total number of measures on the Suspense File was 755. 88% of the measures on the Suspense File were authored by Democrats and 12% were authored by Republicans.
220 measures did not pass off the Suspense File, which represents 29% of the total. Of those 220 measures, 201 were “held” (91% of the total) and are therefore dead, while 19 (9% of the total) were designated “2-year bills” (called “carryover bills” in the state Constitution) and will be voted upon in January 2024.
In regards to the partisan breakdown of the measures that did not pass off the Suspense File, 177 measures were authored by Democrats (which was 27% of the total of all Democrat-authored measures), while 43 measures were authored by Republicans (which was 49% of the total of all Republican-authored measures). Interestingly, all but one of the measures made “2-year bills” are authored by Democrats. Of all the measures that were held (220), 80% were authored by Democrats and 20% were authored by Republicans.
535 measured received either a Do Pass (389 of them – 73% of the total) or Do Pass as Amended (146 of them – 27% of the total) vote, which represents 71% of the total. 490 of the measures that passed off the Suspense File were authored by Democrats, which represents 92% of the passed bills, while 45 of the measures that passed were authored by Republicans, which was 8% of the total.
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Thanks for this, Chris Micheli.
It appears that the action of super-majority Dem/Marxist legislators to place their pet legislation (and the despised Repub legislation) on the Appropriations Committees’ “suspense file” is another one of their dirty tricks —- similar to “gut-and-amend” and budget “trailer bills” —- to pass or kill legislation under the radar of pesky public scrutiny. All that accompanies this, “carry-over” bills and expert testimony not allowed in the committees, further eases the unnoticed passage of what they want (Dem bills) and the death of what they don’t want (Repub bills).
What is encouraging, though, is that this Dem dirty trickery seems to show a couple of things:
First, as much as we the public might think Dem legislators always do and get what they want and we the public think our pressure and input don’t matter, this trickery indicates how frightened they actually are of public scrutiny, and thus how important it is that we know what’s going on and apply the needed pressure.
Second, it shows how vital the work of The California Globe is, because it seems to me that, thanks to The Globe’s coverage, Dems have been caught many many many times with their pants down when they tried to pull this scam and in the end they didn’t get away with it. Why? Because when The Globe brought certain of these bills to the public’s attention, and public outcry was the result, the legislation was shot down.