TO: George Rodericks, City Manager
FROM: Anthony, Jason & Paul Gonsalves
DATE: Wednesday, January 24, 2024
SUBJECT: Legislative Update: New Year, New Leadership, and New Members The Legislature returned from interim recess on January 3, 2024, to start the second half of the 2023-24 Legislative Session. This new Legislative Session will bring significant challenges and changes to the Legislature. There’s change in Legislative leadership from previous sessions, change in Chairs and Members of committees from previous sessions, change in future legislative representation, and challenges to the State’s budget finance.
LEADERSHIP CHANGES
Former Assembly Speaker, Anthony Rendon, and current President Pro Tem of the Senate, Toni Atkins, are both in their last year of office due to term limits. Because of this, both houses have elected new leaders.
ASSEMBLY SPEAKER
Assembly Speaker, Robert Rivas, took over for former Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon in July, 2023, however, Assembly Speaker Rivas did not utilize or wield the full power of the Speaker during that time. His influence is now ramping up and will grow in the 2024 Legislative Session.
Speaker Rivas has installed many new Committee Chairs and has appointed dozens of new Members to Committees. One early, and notable, change is that Speaker Rivas has directed Committee Chairs to allow all bills referred to Committee to be eligible for a hearing in that Committee, if the author of the bill so chooses. While this changes from the policy of the previous Speaker, who had allowed Chairs to simply decide whether a bill deserved a hearing or not, it is a return to long-standing procedures of the Legislature whereby the authors could decide whether their bill is set for a hearing or not.
SENATE PRESIDENT PRO-TEM
Late in the 2023 Legislative Session, the Senate elected Senator Mike McGuire to be the next President Pro-Tem of the Senate, however, they did so without specifying a transition date. The date was worked out during the fall Legislative break and Senator McGuire will take over the Senate on February 5, 2024, thereby allowing all the two-year bills that needed to clear the house of origin to do so under the sitting leader and Committee Chairs.
Senator McGuire is a very active, hands-on Legislator. As the current Majority Floor Leader under President Pro-Tem Atkins, he manages the work flow of the Senate and is in a constant state of motion, engaging with his colleagues and being “in the know” on the matters of hand. It is expected that Senator McGuire will make changes to Chairs and Members of the Senate Committees, but at this time, it is not evident what and how substantive those changes will be.
COMMITTEE CHANGES
As noted above, Assembly Speaker Rivas has made significant changes to the Committees in the Assembly. Notable changes of significance include installing new Chairs of several prominent Committees with Members who were not previously sitting on those committees. Some of the most notable new Committee Chairs in the Assembly are as follows:
• Appropriations Chair – Assemblymember Buffy Wicks
• Budget Chair – Assemblymember Jesse Gabriel
• Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Chair, Assemblymember Eduardo Garcia • Governmental Organization Chair, Assemblymember Blanca Rubio • Housing and Community Development Chair, Chris Ward
• Local Government Chair, Assemblymember Juan Carrillo
• Natural Resources Chair, Assemblymember Isaac Bryan
• Public Employment and Retirement Chair, Assemblymember Tina McKinnor • Public Safety Chair, Assemblymember Kevin McCarty
• Revenue and Taxation Chair, Assemblymember Jacqui Irwin • Rules Chair, Assemblymember Blanca Pacheco
• Transportation Chair, Assemblymember Lori Wilson
• Utilities and Energy Chair, Assemblymember Cottie Petrie-Norris • Water, Parks, and Wildlife Chair, Assemblymember Diane Papan
STATE BUDGET
Possibly the biggest challenge going into the 2024 Legislative Session is the fiscal health and stability of the state budget. After years of multi-billion-dollar budget surpluses, the state of California is facing an estimated $38-$68 billion budget deficit (LAO projects $68B while the Governor projects $38B). Nearly all the sitting Legislators have either served during times of Budget surpluses, or they are in their first term. Their “hard” budget decisions to date have revolved around how much money to add to programs or creating new spending programs. These Members have not had to make significant cuts to programs, nor have they had to sell their constituents on broader increases to taxes and fees to support existing spending.
When it comes to budget negotiations, the Governor generally holds the leverage. We will see if that dynamic continues under the new Leadership and new Budget Committee Chairs.
Furthermore, with all 80 members of the Assembly and half of the Senate up for election this year, we expect the Legislature to make changes to the Governor’s proposed Budget that reflects the desires of the Assembly and Senate.
ELECTORAL CHANGES
The 2024 Legislative Session will also bring change to the Legislature. As previously mentioned, all 80 Assembly seats are up for reelection along with 20 of the 40 Senate seats. Of the 120 seats in the Legislature, there are 35 Members who are termed out in 2024. A majority of these 35 Legislators are seeking a different elective office, which might be the other house, Congress, or local elective office. For those running for a different office, some of these Legislators have found themselves running against another sitting Legislator for a new office. The electoral future of some of these Legislators will be decided in the event they lose. Those moving on will find themselves in continued “campaign mode”.
Every election cycle brings a modest amount of change to the Legislature. 35 termed out Members is a large number, coupled with the 37 new Members elected in 2022. This means that 72 of the 120 Legislators will have served 2-years or less after the class of 2024 Members are sworn in. 2024 LEGISLATIVE DEADLINES
• January 1 Statutes take effect.
• January 3 Legislature reconvenes.
• January 10 Budget must be submitted by Governor.
• January 12 Last day for policy committees to hear and report to fiscal committees fiscal bills introduced in their house in the odd-numbered year. • January 19 Last day for any committee to hear and report to the Floor bills introduced in that house in the odd-numbered year. Last day to submit bill requests to the Office of Legislative Counsel.
• January 31 Last day for each house to pass bills introduced in that house in the odd numbered year.
• February 16 Last day for bills to be introduced
• April 26 Last day for policy committees to hear and report to fiscal committees’ fiscal bills introduced in their house
• May 3 Last day for policy committees to hear and report to the Floor nonfiscal bills introduced in their house.
• May 10 Last day for policy committees to meet prior to May 28. • May 17 Last day for fiscal committees to hear and report to the Floor bills introduced in their house. Last day for fiscal committees to meet prior to May 28. • May 20-24 Floor session only. No committee may meet for any purpose except for Rules Committee, bills referred pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2, and Conference Committees.
• May 24 Last day for each house to pass bills introduced in that house. • May 28 Committee meetings may resume.
• June 15 Budget Bill must be passed by midnight.
• June 27 Last day for a legislative measure to qualify for the Nov. 5 General Election ballot.
• July 3 Last day for policy committees to meet and report bills. Summer Recess begins upon adjournment, provided Budget Bill has been passed. • August 5 Legislature reconvenes from Summer Recess.
• August 16 Last day for fiscal committees to meet and report bills. • August 19-31 Floor session only. No committee may meet for any purpose except Rules Committee, bills referred pursuant to Assembly Rule 77.2, and Conference Committees.
• August 23 Last day to amend bills on the Floor.
• August 31 Last day for each house to pass bills. Final Recess begins upon adjournment.
As always, we will continue to keep you apprised as the Legislative Session continues. In the meantime, please feel free to contact our office with any questions or concerns you may have.