What Are the Requirements for a Governor’s State-of-the-State Address?

Like in 2023, Governor Gavin Newsom will not be delivering the traditional State-of-the-State address in the Assembly Chambers in the historic California State Capitol in 2024. Can he do that? The answer is yes.

Article 5, Section 3 of the California Constitution states: “The Governor shall report to the Legislature each calendar year on the condition of the State and may make recommendations.” This language is clear that an annual report must be made to the Legislature, but what form that report takes is not specified.

In other words, the state Constitution does not specify whether a written or verbal report is done. In addition, Section 3 does not specify when that report must be made, although historically it has been done in January or early February, similar to the U.S. President’s annual State-of-the-Union address to a Joint Session of the U.S. Congress.

Despite that, to use legislative terminology, it has been the “custom and practice” of California Governors to address the two houses of the Legislature in the Assembly Chambers for many decades. This has occurred since roughly the time of World War II when Governors began supplementing their written report with their speech to the Legislature. It was then-Governor Earl Warren who began the tradition. Governor Warren served from 1943 to 1953.

Recall that, while Governor Newsom made the traditional SOTS speeches his first two years in office, during the pandemic, he gave his third speech inside Dodgers Stadium in Los Angeles, and his fourth speech was made from a state agency’s auditorium.

By the way, as we approach the end of the 2-year Legislative Session at the end of August, we should note that Article IV, Section 22 of the state Constitution has a reporting requirement by the four legislative leaders. At the convening of the 2-year session and at the close of each regular session, the four legislative leaders must set forth their goals and objectives for the session and the progress they made towards meeting them.