Chairman's Message - June 2024
It is always interesting and a bit sad that many voters do not have any solid knowledge of the state they live in. That knowledge includes geography, history and especially the history of the political life of the state.
Let’s take a look at California. California became a state on September 9, 1850 after the gold rush brought a huge number of people to the territory. Those pioneers gave the state the numbers needed to attain statehood.
California state government is a bicameral body consisting of the lower house which is the State Assembly and has 80 members. The upper house is the State Senate and has 40 members.
Senatorial terms are four years. Senatorial terms are staggered so that half the membership is evenly divisible by four. Senators from even-numbered districts are elected in the intervening even-numbered years. As of the 2020 Census, California State Senators represented an average of 989,419 residents.
The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. As of the 2020 Census, California Assembly members represented an average of 494,709 residents.
Legislative sessions are defined in Article IV of the California Constitution. Section 3 of Article IV states that the Legislature is to convene in regular session on the first Monday of December in each even-numbered year to organize. The legislature must adjourn by November 30th of the following even-numbered year. In 2024, the Legislature is scheduled to adjourn on 8/31/24.
The Governor of California has the power to call special sessions of the Legislature. The Governor of California has line item veto authority.
State Budget California operates on an annual budget cycle.
- Budget instructions are sent to state agencies beginning in April.
- Agencies submit budget requests to the governor in September.
- Governor submits proposed budget to legislature in January.
- Legislature adopts a budget in June. A majority vote is required to pass the budget. The fiscal year begins on July 1.
The Governor is required to submit a balanced budget to the legislature. The Legislature is required to adopt a balanced budget.
Legislative Salaries $122,694 a year $214 Per Diem
Pension No pensions for legislators who took office after 1990.
Term Limits
The California legislature has been full-time since 1966. Proposition 140 which described legislative terms was passed by a margin of 52% to 48% in 1990. State Assembly members are limited to three two year terms and State Senators are limited to two four year terms. Proposition 140 also imposed a lifelong ban against seeking the same office once limits have been reached. In 2012, Proposition 28 was passed which permits a politician to serve in either or both chambers of the legislature for a maximum of 12 lifetime years.
Initiative Rights
The state legislature develops the ground rules for most of the details of the laws governing the initiative process in California.
Political History
Both chambers of the California legislature have been controlled by the Democrat Party since 1959 except for the period from 1969 to 1971 when the Republican Party controlled both chambers and from 1994 to 1996 when the Republican Party held a majority in the Assembly.
Republicans controlled the Assembly from 1942 until 1956. In 1968, Republicans won a majority which was the same year that Richard Nixon became the first native Californian elected President.
The Future of the California Legislature
Currently, the state of California lives with one party rule. Republican numbers are so low that unless some Democrats join with Republicans, there is no way to stop legislation. Obviously, electing more Republicans would provide a more balanced legislature. One way to do this is for more Republican voters to learn about the legislation being proposed and/or passed in the legislature and letting other voters know.
Included in this newsletter is an example of what goes on in the legislature. In 2014 voters passed Proposition 47 which lowered penalties for many illegal acts. The law reclassified some felonies to misdemeanors. Proposition 47 changed the law so that some low level, non-violent felonies can only be charged as misdemeanors for most people. Proposition 47 changed the felony threshold for theft from $400 to $950. The results were a decreased deterrent effect, a rise in crime rates and a lack of rehabilitation.
Californians for Safer Communities have obtained the signatures to place a measure on the ballot which would reform Proposition 47. The changes would allow judges to use their discretion to sentence drug dealers to state prison instead of county jail. The measure provides “common sense, targeted reforms to Proposition 47 that legislative proposals alone are unable to deliver” amid the state’s rampant theft problems.
Governor Newsom and Democrat Party Leaders oppose the Prop 47 reform measure and are pushing their own set of public safety bills. Californians for Safer Communities has learned that the Governor’s office directed Sacramento lawmakers to insert a “poison pill” provision into their current package of bills dealing with retail theft and other crimes.”
Here is the Governor’s “poison pill” provision.
If the proposed initiative measure titled “The Homelessness, Drug Addiction and Theft Reduction Act” (Initiative 23-0017A1) is approved by the voters at the statewide general election on November 5, 2024, this section shall become inoperative on the date that the Secretary of State certifies that the initiative was approved by the voters and shall be repealed on January 1, 2025.
It is time for Republicans to let all voters know what goes on in the state legislature. Bring back the Golden State.
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