Bills used in the California Legislature

In the California Constitution, it sets forth the method of enacting new laws, or statutes, in this state. That lawmaking power is shared between the Legislature and the People (through the initiative power in Article II). In Article IV, Section 8(b)(1), it states: “The Legislature may make no law except by statute and may enact no statute except by bill.” As a result, in order to create a new state law (i.e., a statute), the Legislature must use a bill to do so.

This article first notes the myriad types of bills used in the California Legislature, followed by addressing some of the most common questions and their answers regarding bills:

Types of Bills
The following are the types of bills that people working in and around the State Capitol describe in their legislative dealings:

Appropriation bill This bill contains language that appropriates funds for expenditures by the state by designating an amount for a specified purpose.

Author-sponsored bill This bill is the idea of the author, who is the official sponsor.

Backed bill This bill is ready for introduction because it has a “backing” (formally called a “jacket” prepared by Office of Legislative Counsel) that shows who the author is.

Budget bill This bill is the main budget bill that makes multiple appropriations for implementation of the state’s fiscal year spending (the secondary bill is referred to as the “budget bill junior”).

Budget Bill Junior This bill amends the main budget bill that makes changes to appropriations for implementation of the state’s current or past fiscal year spending (the plural is “budget bills junior”).

Clean-up bill This bill “cleans-up” or make minor, technical changes following enactment of a prior bill that needs to be modified.

Committee bill This bill is authored by a majority of a committee; usually used for enacting non-controversial law changes (Senate Rules requires the entire committee to agree to author a committee bill).

District bill This bill only applies to the legislator’s own district, such as benefiting his or her transit district or a specific project in his or her district.

Fiscal bill This bill is required to be considered by the fiscal committee after the bill has passed the policy committee.

Intent bill This bill makes a statement of intent of the Legislature that the bill will do something on a topic specified in the intent statement; it is a placeholder for a later, substantive bill.

Omnibus bill This bill is a measure that contains numerous changes to the law, generally suggested by a group (e.g., civil law changes recommended by the Judicial Council).

Special interest bill This bill has a sponsor that is a particular interest group.

Sponsored bill This bill usually comes from an interest group or individual as the sponsor.

Spot bill This bill makes a technical or a non-substantive change in the law as a placeholder for a later, substantive bill; neither house’s Rules Committee will refer spot bills to a policy committee until they are substantively amended.

Technical corrections bill This bill makes technical corrections to an existing law.

Trailer bill This bill implements statutory changes as part of the budget adoption; these bills “trail” the main budget bill.

Two-year bill This bill carries over from the first year of session into the second year of the session.

Unbacked bill This bill does not yet have an author and no “backing” (also called a “jacket”) for introduction.

FAQs about Bills
The following are some of the most common questions and their answers regarding bills that people working in and around the State Capitol should be aware of:

Do only urgency clause bills take effect immediately? No. Under Article IV, Section 8(c)(3) of the California Constitution, “statutes calling elections, statutes providing for tax levies or appropriations for the usual current expenses of the State, and urgency statutes shall go into effect immediately upon their enactment.”

What are urgency measures? Urgency statutes are generally those considered necessary for immediate preservation of the public peace, health or safety, and these measures require approval by a two-thirds vote of the Legislature, rather than a majority, pursuant to Article IV, Section 8(d) of the state constitution.

Is a bill keyed as a “tax levy” a tax increase bill? For California bills, a “tax levy” is any bill that imposes, repeals, or materially alters a state tax. The Legislative Counsel indicates in the Title and Digest of the bill whether the bill is a tax levy and OLC indicates a tax levy when there is a proposed change to the base, rate, or burden of a tax.

Do all bills that contain an appropriation require a super majority vote for passage? This is the general rule, except for education finance bills, budget-related bills, and special fund appropriations bills, all of which only require a majority vote for passage.

Like in Congress, is the sponsor of the bill the legislator who introduces the bill? In Congress and the vast majority of states, the bill author is called the sponsor of the bill. But in California, the sponsor is the Member of the Legislature, private individual, or group who develops a measure and advocates its passage. The author of the bill is the Member of the Legislature who introduces the measure.

Are bond measures approved only by the Legislature? A bill authorizing the sale of state general obligation bonds to finance specified projects or activities is a bond measure. Subsequent to enactment, a general obligation bond bill must be approved by the voters.

Are double jointing and contingent enactment the same thing? Contingent enactment means there is a section in a bill indicating that it is to become operative only upon the enactment of another measure. Double jointing means amendments to a bill providing that the amended bill does not override the provisions of another bill where both bills propose to amend the same section of law.

Does a bill’s Legislative Counsel Digest analyze a bill’s provisions? Prepared by the Legislative Counsel, the Digest summarizes the effect of a proposed bill on current law. It appears on the first page of the printed bill. It does not provide an analysis of the proposed law. That is done by policy committee staff in their bill analyses.

Are engrossing and enrolling of bills the same thing? When a bill is amended, the printed form of the bill is proofread by staff to assure that the amendments are inserted properly. After being proofread, the bill is “correctly engrossed” and is deemed to be in proper form. Whenever a bill passes both houses of the Legislature, it is ordered enrolled. In enrollment, the bill is again proofread for accuracy and then delivered to the Governor.

Do only bills impose state mandates? State legislative enactments or administrative regulations can mandate a new program or higher level of service on the part of a local government, the costs of which are required by the California Constitution to be reimbursed to those local governments.

Do local governments determine whether a bill creates a state mandate? A bill is designated by the Legislative Counsel to be a State-Mandated Local Program, which requires the State to reimburse to local governments the cost of activities required by legislative and executive acts.

Does a bill containing an urgency clause require only one vote for passage? A vote on the urgency clause, requiring a two-thirds vote in each house, must precede a vote on the bill pursuant to Joint Rule 27. As a result, there are actually two votes taken on the floor on a bill containing an urgency clause, the first on the urgency clause and the second on the bill itself.

Can budget appropriations bills be authored by any Member? Bills providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill can only be authored by the Senate Budget & Fiscal Review Committee or the Assembly Budget Committee pursuant to Joint Rule 54. However, this provision may be suspended by approval of the Rules Committee.

Can a Member author a bill during a session that would have substantially the same effect as a bill that he or she introduced during that session? No, unless the Member receives approval by the Rules Committee. Nonetheless, pursuant to Joint Rule 54, this restriction does not apply in cases where the previously introduced bill was vetoed by the Governor or its provisions were “chaptered out” by a later chaptered bill.

Why does an urgency bill include a brief statement following the urgency clause? Because California’s Constitution in Article IV, Section 8(d) provides, in part, the following: “Urgency statutes are those necessary for immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety. A statement of facts constituting the necessity shall be set forth in one section of the bill.”

Why does a bill include only related provisions, rather than a hodgepodge of unrelated provisions like a bill in Congress? Because Article IV, Section 9 provides, in part, the following: “A statute shall embrace but one subject, which shall be expressed in its title. If a statute embraces a subject not expressed in its title, only the part not expressed is void.”

Why does a bill include the entire code section being amended, even if just a single word is changed? Because Article IV, Section 9 provides, in part, the following: “A section of a statute may not be amended unless the section is re-enacted as amended.”

Why does a bill include a section that explains it is a special statute and not a general statute? Because Article IV, Section 16 provides: “All laws of a general nature have uniform operation. A local or special statute is invalid in any case if a general statute can be made applicable.” Therefore, if a special statute is required for certain, unique reasons, the bill states that it is a “special statute.”