California State Legislature
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The California State Legislature is the state legislature of California. It is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members, and the upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members.
Both chambers of the California legislature have been dominated by the Democratic Party since 1970 except from 1995 to 1996, when the Republican Party briefly held a majority in the lower chamber. Members of the California legislature serve full time [1].
California's voters imposed term limits on their state senators and state assemblymen in 1990; senators can't serve for more than two terms (for a total of eight years) and assemblymen can't serve for more than three terms (for a total of six years).
The 2009 session of the California legislature began on December 1, 2008 and adjourns on September 12, 2009.[1]
The California legislature has been full-time since 1966.[2]
Legislative salaries
The California Citizens Compensation Commission voted in May 2009 to reduce the salaries of California's state legislators by 18%. In June, the same group voted to reduce the fringe benefits received by state legislators by the same amount.[3]
The compensation commission can't reduce salaries of elected officials in the middle of their terms. Therefore, the legislative pay cut will not go into effect until after the November 2010 elections. The commission's benefit cut, however, will go into effect on December 1, 2009.
38 of 40 state senators and about one-third of the members of the state assembly have voluntarily taken a 5 percent pay reduction.[3]
Benefits from lobbyists
As of 2009, perks available to California state legislators include:
- BP America, a gas and petroleum company, sponsors an automated hotline just for California state legislators and their staff that allows them to call the company for free tickets to concerts, shows and sports events. The message on the automated service says that legislators may "ask a member of their own staff to call on their behalf.[4]
- AT&T sponsors a dedicated, private e-mail service that allows state legislators and their staffs use to request tickets to shows such as Britney Spears concerts and Lakers playoffs.[4]
- Michael Duvall, who resigned from the California State Assembly in September when a videotape was made public wherein he discussed his sexaul adventures with lobbyists, also reported on his mandatory lobbying disclosures that in 2008, he had received gifts of meals, drinks, concert tickets and "a Bluetooth headset".[4]
Current balance-of-power
State assembly
| Affiliation | Members | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 51 | |
| Republican Party | 29 | |
| Total | 80 | |
State senate
| Affiliation | Members | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 24 | |
| Republican Party | 15 | |
| Vacancy | 1 | |
| Total | 40 | |
Terms and term limits
California voters imposed strict term limits on the California Legislature in 1990, when they voted in favor of Proposition 140 by a margin of 52-48%. Proposition 140 limits state Assembly members to three two-year terms and state senators to two four-year terms, and imposes a lifelong ban against seeking the same office once the limits have been reached.
Bates v. Jones
In the case of Bates v. Jones, Bates--a termed-out Assemblyman--sued in federal court to have the provisions of Prop. 140 declared unconstitutional. A federal court agreed with his claim, before the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled against him, keeping the limits in place.
Proposition 45 in 2002
California State Senate president pro tem John Burton (D-San Francisco) vigorously sponsored an effort in 2002 to rollback the provisions of 1990's Prop. 140 by putting Proposition 45 on the March 2002 ballot. Voters rejected Prop. 45 by a margin of 42-58%. Had Proposition 45 passed, it would have allowed state legislators to serve for four years beyond the limits allowed by Prop. 140.
Proposition 93 in 2008
Proposition 93, an initiated constitutional amendment supported by Don Perata was defeated 53.6% to 46.4% during the February 5, 2008 statewide primary election. Had it passed, members of the California State Legislature would have been allowed to remain in their current office up to 12 years.
Senate
- Main article: California State Senate
The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature. There are 40 State Senators. The state legislature meets in the state capital, Sacramento. The Lieutenant Governor is the ex officio President of the Senate. The officers of the Senate, elected at the start of each legislative session, are; President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg, Secretary of the Senate Gregory Schmidt, and Senate Sergeant at Arms Tony Beard.
Prior to 1968, state senate districts were restricted such that one county could only hold at most one seat. This led to the situation of Los Angeles County, with 6 million residents as of 1968, receiving 600 times less representation than residents of Alpine County and Calaveras County, some of California's least populous counties. The Reynolds v. Sims decision by the United States Supreme Court compelled all states to draw up districts that were apportioned by population rather than geography. As such, boundaries were changed such that equal representation was provided.
Senators serve four year terms. The terms of the Senators are staggered so that half the membership is elected every two years. The Senators representing the odd-numbered districts are elected in years evenly divisible by four. The Senators from the even-numbered districts are elected in the intervening even-numbered years.
Since the passage of Prop 140 in 1990, California senators have been limited to two terms in office.
Each Senator represents approximately 846,791 Californians, which is more than the approximately 639,088 residents in each of California's Congressional Districts.
The current make-up is 24 Democrats, 15 Republicans and one vacancy.
State Assembly
- Main article: California State Assembly
The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members to the Assembly, representing a relatively equal amount of constituencies, with each district having a population of at least 420,000 citizens. Due to the state's large population and relatively small legislature, the Assembly has the largest population per representative ratio of any lower house legislature in the United States; only the federal U.S. House of Representatives has a larger ratio.
Initiative rights
Although the California Constitution establishes the right of California citizens to directly legislate via initiated constitutional amendments and initiated state statutes, the state legislature develops the ground rules for most of the details of the laws governing the initiative process in California. Through these rules, it can make the initiative process easier or harder, and less expensive or more expensive.
The state legislature can also propose constitutional changes to the initiative process. The current session of the legislature has proposed several such constitutional changes. The sponsors of these changes hope to gain the approval of enough of their fellow legislators to qualify their proposed changes for the 2010 ballot.
| Type | Title | Subject | Description | Sponsor |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| LRCA | ACA 13 | Initiative rights | Give state legislature right to change initiated constitutional amendments after signatures are collected | Edward Hernandez |
| LRCA | ACA 20 | Initiative rights | California Legislative Analyst's Office would write ballot titles instead of the attorney general | Roger Niello |
| LRCA | ACA 21 | Initiative rights | To be approved, a ballot initiative would require a 2/3rds vote rather than the current simple majority | Charles Calderon |
Ballot referrals
The California State Legislature has the authority to refer statewide ballot propositions to the ballot; these can be:
- Constitutional amendments to the California Constitution.
- Legislatively-referred state statutes, including bond issues.
| Year | Referred amendments | Referred statutes | Total referrals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2008 | 0 | 2 | 2 |
| 2006 | 1 | 5 | 6 |
| 2004 | 5 | 2 | 7 |
| 2003 | 1 | - | 1 |
| 2002 | 3 | 5 | 8 |
| 2000 | 6 | 7 | 13 |
| 1998 | 6 | 3 | 9 |
| 1996 | 1 | 9 | 10 |
| 1994 | 9 | 4 | 13 |
| 1993 | 5 | 1 | 6 |
| 1992 | 5 | 4 | 9 |
| 1990 | 8 | 19 | 27 |
Joint legislative committees
- Arts Committee, California Legislature
- Audit Committee, California Legislature
- Budget Committee, California Legislature
- Emergency Management Committee, California Legislature
- Fairs, Allocation, and Classification Committee, California Legislature
- Fisheries and Aquaculture Committee, California Legislature
- Rules Committee, California Legislature
External links
- California State Legislature website.
- Project Vote Smart profile of California Senate
- Project Vote Smart's profile of the California State Assembly
References
- ↑ Western legislature session dates
- ↑ Santa Cruz Sentinel, "Laird leads fight against part-time Legislature", September 26, 2009
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Ventura County Star, "Commission votes to cut state legislators' benefits", June 30, 2009
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Los Angeles Times, "Duvall incident spotlights politicians' perks in capital", September 11, 2009
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