California State Legislature

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California State Assembly chamber

California state Senate chamber

The California Legislature is the legislative branch of the state government of California.

It is a bicameral legislature that consists of a lower house, the Assembly, and an upper house, the Senate. There are 80 State Assembly Members and 40 State Senators. The State Legislature meets in the state capital, Sacramento.

The California legislature currently has a Democratic majority, with the Senate consisting of 25 Democrats and 15 Republicans; and the Assembly having 48 Democrats and 32 Republicans. Except for a brief period from 1995-1996, the Assembly has been in Democratic hands since the 1970 election (even while the governor's office has gone back and forth between Republicans and Democrats). The Senate has been in Democratic hands for a long time as well.

Contents

1 Terms and term limits
2 Recordkeeping
3 Legislative committees
4 Legislative analyst
5 See also
6 External links

Terms and term limits

Members of the Assembly are elected from eighty districts, serve two year terms, and since 1990 are limited to being elected three times. Members of the Senate serve four year terms and are limited to being elected twice. There are forty Senate districts, with half of the seats up for election on alternate (two year) election cycles.

Recordkeeping

The proceedings of the California Legislature are briefly summarized in regularly published journals, which show votes and who proposed or withdrew what. Since the 1990s, the legislature has provided a live video feed for its sessions, and has been broadcast on C-SPAN and local access television. Due to the expense and the obvious political downsides, California did not keep verbatim records of actual speeches made by members of the Assembly and Senate until the video feed began. As a result, reconstructing legislative intent outside of an act's preamble is extremely difficult in California for legislation passed before the 1990s.

Legislative committees

The most sought-after legislative committee appointments are to banking, agriculture and insurance. These are sometimes called "juice" committees, because membership aids the campaign fundraising of their members through donations from powerful lobbying groups.

Legislative analyst

A unique institution is the nonpartisan legislative analyst's office, or LAO. The LAO analyzes for legislators the effects of proposed laws. The office is staffed by several dozen fiscal and policy analysts. The LAO's most visible public acts are to write the impartial ballot booklet analyses of initiatives and bond measures placed before the voters and to provide public commentary on many aspects of proposed and enacted budget bills.

External links