California State Assembly Chamber. (Photo: Kevin Sanders for California Globe)
Historical Look at How Many Bills Are Considered on the Suspense Files
The charts are divided by State Senate and State Assembly and by each year
By Chris Micheli, May 19, 2026 9:53 am
For this article, I put together some historical data on Suspense File voting. The charts are first divided by State Senate and State Assembly. Second, they are divided each year between May (house of origin measures) and August (second house measures) voting.
And, third, the charts include the total number of measures on the Suspense Files in the two houses that month, followed by totals for the number of Do Pass (DP) and Do Pass as Amended (DPA) measures, as well as the totals for the number of Held measures (including “2-year holds” in the odd-numbered years).
SENATE
May 2026
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 332 | 242 | 73% | 90 | 27% |
August 2025
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures (including 2-year) | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 425 | 308 | 73% | 117 | 27% |
May 2025
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures (including 2-year) | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 432 | 307 | 71% | 125 | 29% |
August 2024
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 515 | 341 | 66% | 173 | 34% |
May 2024
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 341 | 254 | 74.5% | 87 | 25.5% |
August 2023
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures (including 2-year) | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 489 | 351 | 72% | 138 | 28% |
May 2023
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures (including 2-year) | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 416 | 326 | 78% | 90 | 22% |
August 2022
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 491 | 368 | 75% | 123 | 25% |
May 2022
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 358 | 310 | 87% | 48 | 13% |
August 2021
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures (including 2-year) | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 322 | 254 | 79% | 68 | 21% |
May 2021
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures (including 2-year) | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 360 | 300 | 83% | 60 | 17% |
ASSEMBLY
May 2026
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 637 | 468 | 73.5% | 169 | 26.5% |
August 2025
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures (including 2-year) | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 261 | 191 | 73% | 70 | 27% |
May 2025
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures (including 2-year) | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 666 | 435 | 65% | 231 | 35% |
August 2024
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 315 | 220 | 70% | 94 | 30% |
May 2024
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 668 | 435 | 65% | 233 | 35% |
August 2023
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures (including 2-year) | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 276 | 214 | 77.5% | 62 | 22.5% |
May 2023
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures (including 2-year) | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 755 | 535 | 71% | 220 | 29% |
August 2022
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 324 | 245 | 75.5% | 79 | 24.5% |
May 2022
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 601 | 430 | 71.5% | 171 | 28.5% |
August 2021
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures (including 2-year) | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 205 | 164 | 80% | 41 | 20% |
May 2021
| Number of Measures on Suspense | Number of DP or DPA Measures | Percentage of DP or DPA Measures | Total of Held Measures (including 2-year) | Percentage of Held Measures |
| 537 | 371 | 69% | 166 | 31% |
Chris Micheli is an attorney and lobbyist with Snodgrass & Micheli, LLC, as well as an Adjunct Professor at McGeorge School of Law.
Latest posts by Chris Micheli (see all)
- Historical Look at How Many Bills Are Considered on the Suspense Files - May 19, 2026
- General Law Provisions for Unincorporated Associations - May 19, 2026
- Regulation of Take and Possession - May 18, 2026
RELATED ARTICLES
-
October 20, 2024 -
-
May 6, 2026
