The Legislative Bill Room, California State Capitol. (Photo: ca.gov)
Senate and Assembly Leaders Cap Bills Moving Forward in 2021 Session
12-bill limit does not apply to committee bills, which could benefit the policy and fiscal committee chairs
By Chris Micheli, May 20, 2021 6:28 am
Senate President pro tempore Toni Atkins and Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon have agreed to limit each state legislator to moving only 12 bills to the opposite house during the 2021 Legislative Session. In other words, each Senator can move only 12 Senate bills over to the Assembly this year, and each Assembly Member can move only 12 Assembly bills over to the Senate.
How significant is this bill cap? With 120 legislators, the cap of 12 bills per legislator would equal 1,440 bills that could move this year through the legislative process. On average, historically, about 1,000 bills reach the governor’s desk each year with roughly 85% of them getting signed into law.
How many Assembly Members introduced more than 12 bills this year? 70 of the 80 Members. The highest was 29 and the lowest was zero (Speaker Rendon does not introduce bills), with the next lowest at 8. The Assembly has a bill limit of 50 for the 2-year Session.
How many Senators introduced more than 12 bills this year? 36 of the 40 Members. The highest was 24 (two senators had this total) and the lowest was 9. The Senate has a bill limit of 40 for the 2-year Session.
Because 2021 is the first year of the 2-year Legislative Session, any bills pending in their house of origin (except those held on the Suspense File today) can be considered next year, but will have to pass out of their house of origin by January 31, 2022.
This 12-bill limit does not apply to committee bills, which could benefit the policy and fiscal committee chairs.
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Did all the legislators get advance warning that they would be limited like this? If I were a legislator who’d just pushed 24 bills through committee and even onto my chamber’s floor, only to find out the other chamber will only get half of them, this would be upsetting!
It’s a bit like “scientists” at universities trying to pad their CV with published papers that don’t do anything or do it badly – the “least legislatable unit” (LLU).
The difference here is that it’s much harder to write a single bill that implements an entire political program. So they split bills up into pieces that individually stand on their own, and that can be vote-traded around with buddies. That’s the “political process.”
University tenure committees are a relic of the feudal system,…