Capitol Briefs: Bills, damned bills and statistics, gubernatorial edition

It’s all over now but the shouting – Gov. Gavin Newsom has acted on all the massive number of bills sent his law by lawmakers this session. From AI to zero emissions, by now everyone knows the fate of their pet bills(s), and has weighed in accordingly.

Following up on his earlier review of legislative statistics, Chris Micheli, renowned lobbyist and Capitol Weekly’s own resident legislative guru has turned his attention to the governor’s office. Some highlights include:

• Newsom addressed 1,206 bills, the highest number of his six years in office.
• Newsom signed 1,017 into law and vetoed 189, or 84 percent of those that made it to his desk.
• That veto number represents 15.7 percent of the bills he addressed, slightly higher than last year’s 14.9 percent.
• Newsom signed 668 Assembly bills and 349 Senate bills. Of the Assembly bills signed, 12 percent came from Republican lawmakers, with the rest being committee bills. In the Senate, Newsom signed off on just 9 percent of GOP-authored measures.
• 123 of his vetoes were of Assembly bills, with Senate measures making up the remaining 66 vetoes. The veto percentage of Republican-authored bills was the same for both chambers, 14 percent.
• Newsom issued 18 signing messages, the same as last year and the second highest total of his time in office after the 23 he issued in 2022.
• That gives Newsom 89 total signing messages as governor, an average of 15 per year.
• That number falls well short of the modern record for gubernatorial messages, the 111 issued by Gov. Gray Davis in 2002.
• The fewest signing messages issued in a single year among the last five governors? That would be the five Arnold Schwarzenegger issued in 2010, one less than the six he sent in 2009.
• Of the last five governors – Pete Wilson, Gray Davis, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jerry Brown and Gavin Newsom – Davis is easily the most prolific issuer of signing messages, averaging 82 per year from 1999 to 2003. In contrast, Newsom and Schwarzenegger averaged 15, one more than Jerry Brown (14). Wilson averaged 12 such annual messages from 1995-1998.

Chris Micheli is a founding partner of the Sacramento governmental relations and advocacy firm of Snodgrass & Micheli, LLC and a longtime contributor to Capitol Weekly.