California Assembly Bill AR14 Introduced / Bill

 BILL NUMBER: HR 14INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Assembly Member Melendez MARCH 11, 2015 Relative to Assembly Rule 49. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST HOUSE OR SENATE RESOLUTIONS DO NOT CONTAIN A DIGEST WHEREAS, It is the intent of the Legislature to improve the management of legislative proposals and enhance the deliberative process inherent in considering changes in law; and WHEREAS, In the 2013-14 Regular Session there were 4,786 bills and resolutions introduced in the Assembly and Senate; and WHEREAS, In the 2013-14 Regular Session there were 1,738 bills passed by the Legislature and signed into law by the Governor; and WHEREAS, Under Rule 49 of the Standing Rules of the Assembly, a Member of the California State Assembly may not introduce more than 40 bills in a legislative session; and WHEREAS, It is the intent of the Legislature to improve public engagement in the legislative process by further limiting the volume of proposals considered in a legislative session in order to allow constituents to more easily monitor and participate in the work of the Legislature; and WHEREAS, The Legislature has determined that a limit of 30 bills per Member will further the intent to improve public engagement while allowing sufficient opportunity to address district and statewide issues; and WHEREAS, To prevent an unfair impact on Members working under the existing limit of 40 bills per session, the Legislature has determined that the aforementioned limit should be implemented over the next two years, with the 30-bill limit taking effect in the 2017-18 Regular Session, should that Legislature seek to continue this effort; now, therefore, be it Resolved by the Assembly of the State of California, That Rule 49 of the Standing Rules of the Assembly for the 2015-16 Regular Session is amended to read: Limitation on the Introduction of Bills 49. (a) A Member may introduce not more than  40   30  bills in the regular session. As used in this rule, "bills" includes constitutional amendments. (b) Notwithstanding subdivision (a) of this rule, a Member may introduce not more than five resolutions in the regular session. As used in this rule, "resolutions" include House, Concurrent  ,  and Joint Resolutions, but do not include resolutions introduced by a Member for the specific purpose of organizing a session that is convened pursuant to  subdivision (a) of Section 3 of  Article IV  , Section 3(a)  of the  State   California  Constitution or resolutions introduced by the Speaker as part of a session honoring a retiring Assembly Member. (c) This rule may be suspended with respect to a particular bill or resolution by approval of the Committee on Rules.  (d) This rule does not apply to a bill that would take effect immediately as an urgency statute.