Thank you, Speaker Rivas and Pro Tem McGuire, for Lowering Bill Intro Limits

Earlier today, December 2, the State Assembly and State Senate convened the 2025-26 California Legislative Session and, due to the leadership of Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas and Senate President pro Tempore Mike McGuire, both houses voted to reduce their bill introduction limits.

The Standing Rules of the Assembly for the 2025–26 Regular Session reduce the number of bill introductions per Assembly Member to 35 bills per 2-year Session. Specifically, Assembly Rule 49(a) was changed to lower the prior cap of 50 bills (which includes constitutional amendments) to 35.

The Standing Rules of the Senate for the 2025-26 Regular Session reduce the number of bill introductions per Senator to 35 bills per 2-year Session. Specifically, Senate Rule 22.5(a) was changed to lower the prior cap of 40 bills (which does not include constitutional amendments) to 35.

Under both sets of house rules, the bill introduction limitation may be suspended with respect to a particular bill by approval of the Committee on Rules.

The purpose of having lower bill limits is to allow more time for consideration and the deliberative process, which are so important to allow more time to process substantive law changes proposed by legislation.

As with prior sessions since 2017, the Standing Rules of the Assembly set the limitation at 50 bills. AR 49(a) also provides that “bill” includes a constitutional amendment, but does not include a concurrent or joint resolution.

The Standing Rules of the Senate set the limitation at 40 bills, including introduction or “subsequently authoring” bills up to that cap. Subdivision (c) of SR 22.5 provides that the rule does not apply to a constitutional amendment, any type of resolution, or a bill introduced by a committee.

By way of background, only about a quarter of this country’s legislatures, including California, limits the number of bill introductions by their elected legislative officials. Of course, most state legislatures operate on a part-time basis.

From the 2023-24 California Legislative Session, the average number of bills introduced per Assembly Member was 39 (with a cap of 50), while the average number of bills introduced per Senator was 35 (with a cap of 40).