Bill Text: CA SCA10 | 2015-2016 | Regular Session | Introduced
Bill Title: Legislative procedure.
Spectrum: Partisan Bill (Republican 13-0)
Status: (Failed) 2016-11-30 - From committee without further action. [SCA10 Detail]
Download: California-2015-SCA10-Introduced.html
BILL NUMBER: SCA 10 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senator Huff
(Principal coauthors: Senators Anderson, Bates, Berryhill, Fuller,
Gaines, Moorlach, Morrell, Nguyen, Nielsen, Runner, Stone, and
Vidak)
SEPTEMBER 11, 2015
A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California
an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by amending Sections 8
and 12 of Article IV thereof, relating to the Legislature.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCA 10, as introduced, Huff. Legislative procedure.
The California Constitution prohibits a committee or either house
of the Legislature from hearing or acting upon a bill until 31 days
after it has been introduced, unless the house dispenses with this
requirement by a rollcall vote with ¾ of the membership concurring.
The California Constitution also prohibits either house from passing
a bill until the bill with amendments has been printed and
distributed to the Members of the Legislature.
This measure would authorize a committee to hear or act upon a
bill before 31 days have passed following the bill's introduction if
the bill, in the form to be considered by the committee, has been in
print and published on the Internet for at least 15 days. This
measure would also prohibit either house of the Legislature from
passing a bill until it has been made available to the public, in
print and on the Internet, for at least 72 hours before a vote on the
measure, except for certain bills that address a state of emergency
declared by the Governor.
The California Constitution provides that the Budget Bill and
other bills providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill
may be passed by a majority vote in each house of the Legislature and
shall take immediate effect upon being signed by the Governor. The
California Constitution defines "other bills providing for
appropriations related to the budget bill" to mean bills identified
as related to the budget in the Budget Bill passed by the
Legislature. The California Constitution requires that the
Legislature pass the Budget Bill by midnight on June 15 of each year.
If the Budget Bill is not passed by the deadline, the California
Constitution prohibits an appropriation from the current budget or
future budget to pay any salary or reimbursement for travel or living
expenses for Members of the Legislature during any regular or
special session for the period from midnight on June 15 until the day
that the Budget Bill is presented to the Governor.
This measure would require that the Budget Bill be enacted by
midnight on June 15. The measure would require that other bills that
provide for appropriations relating to the Budget Bill be necessary
to implement the budget. The measure would provide that a Budget Bill
or other bill providing for appropriations relating to the Budget
Bill that is passed in each house by a majority vote shall not take
effect if it is not enacted by midnight on June 15, thereby requiring
a Budget Bill or other bill providing for appropriations relating to
the Budget Bill that is enacted after midnight on June 15 to be
passed by a 2/3 vote. The measure would prohibit an appropriation to
pay any salary or reimbursement for travel or living expenses for
Members of the Legislature and the Governor from midnight on June 15
until the Budget Bill and all other bills providing for
appropriations related to the Budget Bill are enacted.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
Resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring, That the
Legislature of the State of California at its 2015-16 Regular Session
commencing on the first day of December 2014, two-thirds of the
membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes to the people of
the State of California that the Constitution of the State be
amended as follows:
First-- This measure shall be known, and may be cited, as the
"Budget Accountability and Transparency Act of 2015."
Second-- The people of the State of California find and declare
all of the following:
(a) In 2010, the voters adopted Proposition 25, which requires
Members of the state Legislature to forfeit their pay in years in
which they fail to pass a budget by the state constitutional
deadline.
(b) Since the enactment of Proposition 25, half of the budgets
passed by the Legislature by the June 15th deadline were not signed
into law by the Governor, and the budgets continued to be debated
even after the beginning of the fiscal year.
(c) Since the enactment of Proposition 25, dozens of budget
trailer bills have been drafted in secrecy, have included only token
$1,000 appropriations to satisfy Proposition 25's technical
requirements, and have been enacted quickly with little, if any,
public notice.
(d) Since the enactment of Proposition 25, budget trailer bills
have been enacted after the beginning of the fiscal year and as late
as three months after the constitutional deadline.
(e) Transparency and public disclosure in the legislative process
are vital to a representative democracy, and the purpose of public
hearings is to allow Members of the Legislature to respectfully hear
from the public and to provide citizens the opportunity to comment on
proposed changes to state law.
(f) In order to give both the Legislature and the Governor an
incentive to enact the annual state budget and budget trailer bills
on time, legislators and the Governor should not be paid or
reimbursed for living expenses if they fail to enact the budget on
time. This measure would require legislators and the Governor to
permanently forfeit their salaries and expenses for each day the
budget and budget trailer bills are late.
(g) Requiring all bills to be in print and published on the
Internet at least 72 hours before being voted on by the Legislature
will ensure that the public has the opportunity to comment on the
proposed changes in law.
Third-- It is the intent of the people of the State of California
that this measure do all of the following:
(a) End budget delays and ensure that the annual budget bill and
budget trailer bills are signed into law by the beginning of the
fiscal year by requiring legislators and the Governor to forfeit
their pay for each day after June 15 that the budget and budget
trailer bills are not enacted.
(b) Leave Proposition 13's property tax limitations intact and not
change the two-thirds vote requirement for the Legislature to raise
taxes.
(c) Require the Legislature to provide adequate notice before
public hearings or votes on legislative measures so that citizens are
able to participate in the legislative process in a meaningful way.
Fourth-- That Section 8 of Article IV thereof is amended to read:
SEC. 8. (a) At regular sessions , no bill other
than the budget bill may be heard or acted on by a
committee or either house until the 31st day after the bill is
introduced unless the house dispenses with this requirement
by rollcall vote entered in the journal, three fourths of the
membership concurring. introduced, except in either of
the following circumstances:
(1) A committee or either house may hear or act on a bill if the
house dispenses with this requirement by rollcall vote entered in the
journal, three-fourths of the membership concurring.
(2) A committee may hear or act on a bill if the bill, in the form
to be considered by the committee, has been in print and published
on the Internet for at least 15 days.
(b) (1) The Legislature may make no law
except by statute and may enact no statute except by bill. No bill
may be passed unless it is read by title on 3
three days in each house except that the
a house may dispense with this requirement by rollcall
vote entered in the journal, two thirds
two-thirds of the membership concurring. No bill may be passed
until the bill with amendments has been printed and distributed to
the members. Members. No bill may be
passed unless, by rollcall vote entered in the journal, a majority of
the membership of each house concurs.
(2) (A) No bill may be passed in either house until the bill, in
the form to be voted on, has been made available to the public, in
print and published on the Internet, for at least 72 hours before the
vote.
(B) This paragraph does not apply to a bill that contains an
urgency clause if the Governor submits to the Legislature a written
statement, for that bill, that dispensing with the requirements of
subparagraph (A) is necessary to address a state of emergency
declared by the Governor. "Emergency," for purposes of this
subparagraph, has the same meaning as in paragraph (2) of subdivision
(c) of Section 3 of Article XIII B and does not include a fiscal
emergency declared pursuant to Section 10 of this article.
(c) (1) Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3) of
this subdivision, (3), a statute enacted at a
regular session shall go into effect on January 1 next following a
90-day period from the date of enactment of the statute and a statute
enacted at a special session shall go into effect on the 91st day
after adjournment of the special session at which the bill was
passed.
(2) A statute, other than a statute establishing or changing
boundaries of any legislative, congressional, or other election
district, enacted by a bill passed by the Legislature on or before
the date the Legislature adjourns for a joint recess to reconvene in
the second calendar year of the biennium of the legislative session,
and in the possession of the Governor after that date, shall go into
effect on January 1 next following the enactment date of the statute
unless, before January 1, a copy of a referendum petition affecting
the statute is submitted to the Attorney General pursuant to
subdivision (d) of Section 10 of Article II, in which event the
statute shall go into effect on the 91st day after the enactment date
unless the petition has been presented to the Secretary of State
pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 9 of Article II.
(3) Statutes calling elections, statutes providing for tax levies
or appropriations for the usual current expenses of the State, and
urgency statutes shall go into effect immediately upon their
enactment.
(d) Urgency statutes are those necessary for immediate
preservation of the public peace, health, or safety. A statement of
facts constituting the necessity shall be set forth in one section of
the bill. In each house the section and the bill shall be passed
separately, each by rollcall vote entered in the journal,
two thirds two-thirds of the membership
concurring. An urgency statute may not create or abolish any office
or change the salary, term, or duties of any office, or grant any
franchise or special privilege, or create any vested right or
interest.
Fifth-- That Section 12 of Article IV thereof is amended to read:
SEC. 12. (a) Within the first 10 days of each calendar year,
the Governor shall submit to the Legislature, with an explanatory
message, a budget for the ensuing fiscal year containing itemized
statements for recommended state expenditures and estimated state
revenues. If recommended expenditures exceed estimated revenues, the
Governor shall recommend the sources from which the additional
revenues should be provided.
(b) The Governor and the Governor-elect may require a state
agency, officer or employee to furnish whatever information is deemed
necessary to prepare the budget.
(c) (1) The budget shall be accompanied by a budget bill itemizing
recommended expenditures.
(2) The budget bill shall be introduced immediately in each house
by the persons chairing the committees that consider the budget.
(3) The Legislature shall pass the budget bill
shall be enacted by midnight on June 15 of each year.
(4) Until the budget bill has been enacted, the Legislature shall
not send to the Governor for consideration any bill appropriating
funds for expenditure during the fiscal year for which the budget
bill is to be enacted, except emergency bills recommended by the
Governor or appropriations for the salaries and expenses of the
Legislature.
(d) No bill except the budget bill may contain more than one item
of appropriation, and that for one certain, expressed purpose.
Appropriations from the General Fund of the State, except
appropriations for the public schools and appropriations in the
budget bill and in other bills providing for appropriations related
to the budget bill, are void unless passed in each house by rollcall
vote entered in the journal, two-thirds of the membership concurring.
(e) (1) (A) Notwithstanding any other
provision of law or of this Constitution, except as provided in
subparagraph (B), the budget bill and other bills providing for
appropriations related to the budget bill may be passed in each
house by rollcall vote entered in the journal, a majority of the
membership concurring, to take effect immediately upon being signed
by the Governor , or upon a date specified in the
legislation.
(B) A budget bill or other
bill providing for appropriations related to the budget bill that is
passed in each house by a majority vote pursuant to this subdivision
shall not take effect if it is not enacted by midnight on June 15.
(C) Nothing in this subdivision shall affect
the vote requirement for appropriations for the public schools
contained in subdivision (d) of this section and in subdivision (b)
of Section 8 of this article. 8.
(2) For purposes of this section, "other bills providing for
appropriations related to the budget bill" shall consist
only of means bills identified as related to the
budget in the budget bill passed by the Legislature.
Legislature and that are necessary to implement the
budget.
(f) The Legislature may control the submission, approval, and
enforcement of budgets and the filing of claims for all state
agencies.
(g) For the 2004-05 fiscal year, or any subsequent fiscal
year, the The Legislature may
shall not send to the Governor for
consideration, nor may and the Governor
shall not sign into law, a budget bill that would
appropriate from the General Fund, for that fiscal year, a total
amount that, when combined with all appropriations from the General
Fund for that fiscal year made as of the date of the budget bill's
passage, and the amount of any General Fund moneys transferred to the
Budget Stabilization Account for that fiscal year pursuant to
Section 20 of Article XVI, exceeds General Fund revenues for that
fiscal year estimated as of the date of the budget bill's passage.
That estimate of General Fund revenues shall be set forth in the
budget bill passed by the Legislature.
(h) Notwithstanding any other provision of law or of this
Constitution, including subdivision (c) of this section, Section 4 of
this article, and Sections 4 and 8 of Article III, in any year in
which the budget bill is not passed by the Legislature
and all other bills providing for appropriations
related to the budget bill are not enacted by midnight on June
15, there shall be no appropriation from the current budget or future
budget to pay any salary or reimbursement for travel or living
expenses for Members of the Legislature or the Governor
during any regular or special session for the period from midnight on
June 15 until the day that the budget bill is presented to
the Governor. and all other bills providing for
appropriations related to the budget bill are enacted. No
salary or reimbursement for travel or living expenses forfeited
pursuant to this subdivision shall be paid retroactively.
Sixth-- Severability.
If any of the provisions of this measure or the applicability of
any provision of this measure to any person or circumstance is found
to be unconstitutional or otherwise invalid, the finding shall not
affect the remaining provisions or applications of this measure to
other persons or circumstances, and to that extent the provision of
this measure are deemed to be severable.
