bill author – California Globe

What Happens When an Author is Not Presenting his or her Bill?

April 27, 2026 2:00 pmApril 27, 2026 2:01 pm

What happens when a bill author is not available to present his or her bill in a committee of the California Legislature? The general practice is for another legislator to present the bill in the missing legislator’s absence. The first...

Motions on Bills in Legislative Committees

May 2, 2023 3:46 pmMay 2, 2023 3:51 pm

In recent weeks, two questions have arisen regarding motions on bills in policy and fiscal committees in the California Legislature. The first question concerns whether a motion requires a second in legislative committees. This is one of those instances in which...

A sea of empty desks inside the California State Assembly

Using Letters to the Daily Journals for Determining Legislative Intent in California

January 2, 2023 6:53 amJanuary 2, 2023 6:59 am

One method to help ascertain the legislative intent behind a specified measure is a letter that is published in the Assembly Daily Journal or the Senate Daily Journal by the bill’s author. These letters, for which there are many each...

The Order of Bill Authors and Co-Authors

April 8, 2022 6:51 amApril 8, 2022 7:00 am

In the California Legislature, there is an order to listing a bill’s authors and co-authors and there are different types of co-authors. So, what is that order? As an initial matter, there is Joint Rule 10.7, titled “Heading of Bills,”...

Picking the Right Bill Author to Be Your Legislative Champion

January 5, 2020 9:07 amJanuary 5, 2020 9:08 am

It is often a time-consuming and sometimes daunting task to find just the right author for a bill to introduce in the California Legislature. How do some lobbyists pick the right bill author? While there is no cookie-cutter approach to...