The California State Legislature will reconvene from summer recess on August 4, 2014. Legislators will jump directly back into the thick of policy-making with a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing scheduled on Monday. This marks the four-week countdown to the end of session on August 31, 2014. During the month of August, the Legislature is expected to hear and take action on about a third of the 3000 plus bills that remain. To date, nearly 1000 bills have been enacted for this legislative year. It is expected that approximately 1100 bills will be heard and processed in this four week window. Much of the outstanding legislation will never be heard as many measures have procedurally “died,” even though this won’t be official until November 30, 2014, the end of the two-year term. It is important to note that the last month of session, specifically the last week, is a popular time for the Legislature to utilize the power to “gut-and-amend” a measure. (A “gut-and-amend” is when a legislator takes a piece of legislation that has made it through a portion of the legislative process, but has stalled, and then deletes (“guts”) the contents of the bill and replaces it with completely different language.) August 15, 2014 marks the deadline for all bills with a fiscal component to be addressed by the Appropriations Committee for each house. According to the Joint Rules of the Legislature, the last two weeks of session are reserved for Floor Sessions only. However, rule waivers, which require a 2/3 vote of the house waiving the rule, are common in the waning days of session. A number of key RCRC issues remain outstanding and are expected to be addressed over the next four weeks, including:
Ø An alternative water bond;
Ø A regulatory framework for medical marijuana;
Ø Groundwater management;
Ø Local permitting of residential solar facilities;
Ø Native American CEQA issues;
Ø Education access issues;
Ø Allocations from the Indian Gaming Special Distribution Fund;
Ø Timber harvest plan exemptions;
Ø Mandatory organic waste recycling; and,
Ø The requirement for locally-elected officials to reinstate with CalPERS.
For further information regarding the end of session or the status of certain bills or issues, please contact RCRC Governmental Affairs staff at (916) 447-4806.