December 12, 2024
Golden State Republican Women
Janet Price, President
Submitted by the GSRW Legislative Analyst Committee
Valerie Evans, Lou Ann Flaherty and Elaine Freeman,
2024, THE CALIFORNIA LEGISLATURE YEAR IN REVIEW
Looking back on this legislative year (2023-2024), there were 5562 bills submitted by the legislators. This number of bills is challenging to track and schedule for hearing.
Each legislator is allowed 50 bills a year in the Assembly. The new rules for the Assembly have reduced that number to 35 each.
The Senate reduced the number from 40 to 35. This is for the entire two-year legislative session. Considering the number of people in the legislature, the number of bills could be greatly reduced.
The Legislature swore in 23 new Assembly Members and 12 new State Senators. Unfortunately, it is still Democrat controlled.
The Governor took advantage of this normally routine session to call a special session as was pointed out in our last Capitol Update.
The special session began December 2nd with plans for Proposed legislation to be introduced in the state Legislature. In the coming weeks, the Legislature has indicated it will hold committee hearings on the legislation. The legislation is expected to reach the Governor’s desk and be signed into law before January 20, 2025.
After this special session, the Legislature will reconvene on 01/06/2025 for the beginning of the 2025-26 biennial legislative session.
Key deadlines include:
01/24/2025
Final day to submit bill requests to the Office of Legislative Council
02/21/2025
The deadline for introducing new bills.
The Governor must submit his draft budget by 01/10/2025.
The Legislative Analyst Office reported an improvement in the State’s financial situation, bringing the budget to a “roughly balanced” position. However, this positive news was accompanied by a cautionary note that the state is still expected to face ongoing operating budget deficits in the coming years.
More dates will be coming forward on the entire legislative session.
Legislative Portal links – Express your support or opposition to a bill or directly to the Legislative committee currently reviewing it (as an individual, not as a member of RW or GSRW) – click here, or the bill’s author – click here, enter your bill # and look for tab at top of the bill page labeled “Comments to Author”.
