Capitol Briefs: Bills, a Bay Area shocker and a new CW staffer

Schwarzenegger – the real ‘Gov. No’: Lobbyist, McGeorge law professor and regular Capitol Weekly contributor Chris Micheli is nothing if not an intrepid collector of legislative data. With the legislature out until January, Micheli has been using the break to analyze the session through the lens of history. Some of his recent findings:

The vast majority of the bills sent to the governor’s desk over the past four decades have been signed into law. The lowest veto rate in that timeframe (1 percent) came during Governor Jerry Brown 1.0 and the highest (35 percent) under Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. The average veto rate over the past 42 years is 17.4%.

Looking back at the first term and a half of Governor Newsom’s actions, as well as the prior five governors, the following are general statistics:

• During Gov. Newsom’s seven years in office, between 425 – 1,200 bills have been sent to him annually. Of those, he has vetoed between 8 percent and 16.5 percent each year, with the low number of bills coming during the pandemic-shortened 2020 Session.

• During Jerry Brown 2.0 (2011-2019), between 870 – 1,200 bills were sent to him annually, and he vetoed between 10 percent – 15 percent of them.

• Schwarzenegger’s seven years in office saw between 890 and 1,265 bills sent his way annually, with between 22 percent and 35 percent being vetoed.

• During Gov. Gray Davis’s five years in office, lawmakers sent him between 965 and 1,455 bills per year, with him vetoing between 6 percent and 25 percent of them.

• Lawmakers sent Gov. Pete Wilson’s between 1,075 – 1,700 bills annually during his eight years in office, of which he vetoed between 8 percent – 24 percent of them.

• And while Gov. George Deukmejian was known as “Governor No” during his eight years in office, his veto pen was hardly out of sync with most of his predecessors (with the notable exception of Schwarzenegger). The Duke of California received between 1,455 – 2,140 bills each year, and he vetoed between 9.5 percent and 20 percent.

How many bills will we see in 2026? Micheli also took a peek forward into next session, specifically at how many bills we might expect to see introduced in the new year. In general, he says, the numbers should be about the same or only slightly less than the historical average even as lawmakers have been limited to 35 bills each total for the two-year session.

In the State Senate, the average number of bills that can be introduced in 2026 per Senator is 16.75. The total number of remaining Senate Bills that can be introduced in the 2026 Session is 670.

In the State Assembly, the average number of bills that can be introduced in 2026 per Assembly Member is 17.9. The total number of remaining Assembly Bills that can be introduced in the 2026 Session is 1,434.

Leah O’Tarrow

Welcome Leah O’Tarrow: We are very happy to introduce our new Capitol Weekly staff reporter…though you might already know her. Leah O’Tarrow interned with us in the first half of 2025 (under her maiden name Leah Lentz), and we loved her work so much that when we received a very substantial sponsorship from the folks at the Federated Indians of Graton Rancheria we immediately brought her back into the fold as our senior correspondent. The plan is for Leah to cover health issues for us, though as with all of us in the nonprofit journalism world she’ll be doing her share of general assignment work as well.

Jim Wunderman. Photo via Bay Area Council.

Speaking of folks on the move: Former California Restaurant Association Vice President of Public Affairs Megan Gamble has joined Calkin Public Affairs, also as Vice President. Gamble is a long-time veteran of the Capitol community. Previous to her two years with the CRA Gamble spent time with the County Welfare Directors Association, Bicker, Castillo & Fairbanks Public Affairs and in Gov. Jerry Brown’s press shop.

But undoubtedly the biggest move of the year to date came last week when longtime Bay Area Council President and CEO Jim Wunderman announced he was leaving his role of the last 22 years to become the head of public affairs for California Forever, the group of billionaires looking to build a new high-tech city in Solano County.

Wunderman, who has been a regular on Capitol Weekly’s Top 100, was hailed by several people deeply involved in this year’s historic and ultimately successful effort to get the first meaningul CEQA reform through the legislature in over half a century.

“California Forever embodies the spirit that has defined California since the Gold Rush: a bold vision to build something extraordinary, with enduring benefits that will lift up generations to come. Opportunities like this are rare, and when the conditions align as they do now, we must seize them,” Wunderman said in a statement.