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This Week Inside The Capitol

June 6, 2011

Full-court Press in the Capitol

by Rebecca Burgoyne, 
CFC Research Analyst

State Budget Deadlines
June 15 marks the constitutional deadline for legislators to pass the state budget. Clamping down on persistently late budgets, voters last fall passed Proposition 25, which dictated that state legislators would not get paid for each day past the deadline the budget is not passed. Last week Controller John Chiang announced he would “enforce the voters’ demand” and not pay the legislators should they fail to pass a budget by the mid-month deadline.

Perhaps the threat of going without a paycheck will motivate some legislators to negotiate in earnest. Governor Jerry Brown and the Democratic majority – while differing somewhat in their exact goals – claim headway is being made with Republicans. The Assembly on Friday passed a dozen-plus “shell” bills, skeletons that leaders in both chambers pledge to flesh out with details this week. Senate President pro Tem Darrell Steinberg (D-Sacramento) went as far as committing to a budget vote this week to “make sure that we have as much time as possible to debate these issues before the 15th.”  

Legislation
June 3 was the deadline for all 2011 bills to pass out of their houses of origin. Any bill held behind is now considered “dead.” To see which bills made the cut, visit CFC’s online legislative action center and get ready to become involved. Despite California’s enormous deficit, legislators managed to move many pro-homosexual bills forward.  

The language in both AB 9 and AB 620 was amended – weakened – in the Assembly Appropriations Committee, contributing to their abilities to move forward. For example, one-time costs for implementing AB 620 were halved, and on-going expenses were reduced from millions to “absorbable” costs. The initial cost estimates for AB 9 were reduced by upwards of $2 million. All bills are now being scheduled in second-chamber policy committees, which they must pass by July 8.  

Redistricting: Real change?
Friday, preliminary redistricting maps are due out, giving legislators a first glance at what their new districts might look like and – perhaps – providing additional incentive for some legislators to cooperate on the budget, motivated by new voter statistics of new districts. Early “visualizations” have been posted online, although these maps could well change prior to the Friday release. The preliminary batch of maps will provide directions to those drawing the lines, whose final versions are due out August 15.

Bill Hearings This Week
AB 123 (Mendoza, D-Norwalk) School Safety: Disruption Threatening Pupils
Passed Assembly Public Safety Committee 6-0
Assembly Appropriations Committee 11-1
Passed Assembly 55-19
Senate Public Safety Committee
June 7, 2011 

AB 177 (Mendoza, D-Norwalk) Juveniles: Parenting Class
Passed Assembly Public Safety Committee 6-0
Assembly floor 67-0
Senate Public Safety Committee
June 7, 2011 

AB 433 (B. Lowenthal, D-Long Beach) Transgender Birth Certificates
Passed Assembly Judiciary Committee 7-3
Passed Assembly 52-22
Senate Judiciary Committee
June 7, 2011 

AB 673 (Perez, D-Los Angeles) Office of Multicultural Health: LGBT Communities
Passed Assembly Health Committee 12-5
Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee 12-5
Passed Assembly 49-24
Senate Health Committee
June 8, 2011 

AB 746 (Campos, D-San Jose) Cyberbullying
Passed Assembly Education Committee 7-1
Passed Assembly 53-5
Senate Education Committee
June 8, 2011 

AB 799 (Swanson, D-Oakland) Commercially Sexually Exploited Minors
Passed Assembly Public Safety Committee 7-0
Passed Assembly 62-0
Senate Public Safety Committee
June 7, 2011 

AB 1364 (Campos, D-San Jose) Employment: Discrimination
Passed Assembly Labor and Employment Committee 5-0
Passed Assembly Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media Committee 8-0
Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee 12-5
Passed Assembly 64-6
Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee
June 8, 2011
 

Week of June 13, 2011
SB 117 (Kehoe, D-San Diego) Public Contracts: Prohibiting “Discrimination” Based on Gender or Sexual Orientation
Passed Senate Governmental Organization Committee 7-5
Senate Judiciary Committee 3-2
Passed Senate 21-15
Assembly Business, Professions, and Consumer Protection Committee
June 14, 2011 

AB 499 (Atkins, D-San Diego) Minors: Medical Care:Consent
Assembly Health Committee 13-5
Passed Assembly Judiciary Committee 7-2
Passed Assembly 50-25
Senate Judiciary Committee
June 14, 2011

AB 887 (Atkins, D-San Diego) Gender
Passed Assembly Judiciary Committee 7-3
Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee 12-5
Passed Assembly 54-24
Senate Judiciary Committee
June 14, 2011

Results May 23-June 3, 2011
AB 1156 (Eng, D-El Monte) Pupils: Bullying
Passed Assembly Education Committee 7-3
Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee 12-5
Passed Assembly 50-27
In Senate 

AB 1174 (Furitani, D-Long Beach) Disturbance of School
Passed Assembly Education Committee 6-3
Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee 12-5
Passed Assembly floor 51-25
In Senate 

AB 1364 (Campos, D-San Jose) Employment: Discrimination
Passed Assembly Labor and Employment Committee 5-0
Passed Assembly Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism and Internet Media Committee 8-0
Passed Assembly Appropriations Committee 12-5
Passed Assembly 64-6
In Senate 

SB 135 (Hernandez, D-West Covina) Hospice Facilities
Passed Senate Health Committee 9-0
Held in Senate Appropriations Committee; suspense file 

SB 242 (Corbett, D-San Leandro) Social Networking Internet Web Sites: Minors’ Privacy
Passed Senate Judiciary Committee 3-2
Failed Senate 16-16; reconsideration granted
Failed Senate 19-17 

SB 416 (Kehoe, D-San Diego) Health: Survey: Gender
Passed Senate Governmental Organization Committee 7-5
Passed Senate Appropriations Committee 6-2
Passed Senate 25-14
In Assembly 

SB 919 (Lieu, D-Redondo Beach) Sexting
Passed Senate Education Committee 10-0
Senate Appropriations Committee; referred to Senate floor per Senate Rule 28.8
Passed Senate 38-0
In Assembly

Note: Any bill that has not yet passed out of its house of origin is now dead. (Check CFC’s online legislative action center to see which bills did not make the cut. Page down to Failed Legislation 2011-2012.)

 
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