The Legislative Bill Room, California State Capitol. (Photo: ca.gov)
Chart of Placeholder Bills in the California Legislature
There is a clear distinction between a ‘spot’ bill and an ‘intent’ bill
By Chris Micheli, September 25, 2024 2:48 pm
As I have previously written, I believe we should use the term “placeholder bill” for those measures that are introduced in the California Legislature which lack substantive language. That is because I believe there is a clear distinction between a “spot” bill, which has technical or nonsubstantive language changes to an existing statute, and an “intent” bill, which has a general or specific statement of legislative intent.
I began tracking four years ago the number of spot and intent bills introduced annually. As a result, I have developed the following tables for the past two legislative sessions:
SPOT BILLS
| 2021 Session | 254 ABs | 127 SBs | 381 Total |
| 2022 Session | 300 ABs | 158 SBs | 458 Total |
| 2023 Session | 373 ABs | 122 SBs | 495 Total |
| 2024 Session | 366 ABs | 115 SBs | 481 Total |
INTENT BILLS
| 2021 Session | 231 ABs | 165 SBs | 396 Total |
| 2022 Session | 121 ABs | 60 SBs | 181 Total |
| 2023 Session | 319 ABs | 232 SBs | 551 Total |
| 2024 Session | 144 ABs | 49 SBs | 193 Total |
Chris Micheli is an attorney and lobbyist with Snodgrass & Micheli, LLC, as well as an Adjunct Professor at McGeorge School of Law.
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