California Senate Bill SCA3 Latest Draft

 BILL NUMBER: SCA 3INTRODUCED BILL TEXT INTRODUCED BY Senator Morrell FEBRUARY 4, 2015 A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by amending Section 8 of Article IV thereof, relating to the Legislature. LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST SCA 3, as introduced, Morrell. Legislative procedure. The California Constitution prohibit either house of the Legislature from passing a bill until the bill with amendments has been printed and distributed to the Members. This measure would also prohibit either house of the Legislature from passing a bill until the bill, in the form to be voted on, has been made available to the public, in print and published on the Internet, for at least 72 hours preceding the vote. This requirement would not apply to specified urgency bills upon the submission by the Governor to the Legislature of a written statement declaring that dispensing with the requirement is necessary to address a state of emergency. Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: no. State-mandated local program: no. Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring, That the Legislature of the State of California at its 2015-16 Regular Session commencing on the first day of December 2014, two-thirds of the membership of each house concurring, hereby proposes to the people of the State of California that the Constitution of the State be amended as follows: That Section 8 of Article IV thereof is amended to read: SEC. 8. (a) At regular sessions no bill other than the budget bill may be heard or acted on by committee or either house until the 31st day after the bill is introduced unless the house dispenses with this requirement by rollcall vote entered in the journal, three fourths of the membership concurring. (b)  (1)    The Legislature may make no law except by statute and may enact no statute except by bill. No bill may be passed unless it is read by title on  3   three  days in each house except that  the   a  house may dispense with this requirement by rollcall vote entered in the journal,  two thirds   two-thirds  of the membership concurring. No bill may be passed until the bill with amendments has been printed and distributed to the members. No bill may be passed unless, by rollcall vote entered in the journal, a majority of the membership of each house concurs.  (2) (A) No bill may be passed in either house until the bill, in the form to be voted on, has been made available to the public, in print and published on the Internet, for at least 72 hours before the vote.   (B) This paragraph does not apply to a bill that contains an urgency clause if the Governor submits to the Legislature a written statement declaring that, for that bill, dispensing with the requirement in subparagraph (A) is necessary to address a state of emergency declared by the Governor. "Emergency," for the purposes of this paragraph, has the same meaning as in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) of Section 3 of Article XIII B and does not include a fiscal emergency declared pursuant to Section 10 of this article.  (c) (1) Except as provided in paragraphs (2) and (3)  of this subdivision  , a statute enacted at a regular session shall go into effect on January 1 next following a 90-day period from the date of enactment of the statute and a statute enacted at a special session shall go into effect on the 91st day after adjournment of the special session at which the bill was passed. (2) A statute, other than a statute establishing or changing boundaries of any legislative, congressional, or other election district, enacted by a bill passed by the Legislature on or before the date the Legislature adjourns for a joint recess to reconvene in the second calendar year of the biennium of the legislative session, and in the possession of the Governor after that date, shall go into effect on January 1 next following the enactment date of the statute unless, before January 1, a copy of a referendum petition affecting the statute is submitted to the Attorney General pursuant to subdivision (d) of Section 10 of Article II, in which event the statute shall go into effect on the 91st day after the enactment date unless the petition has been presented to the Secretary of State pursuant to subdivision (b) of Section 9 of Article II. (3) 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. (d) 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. In each house the section and the bill shall be passed separately, each by rollcall vote entered in the journal,  two thirds   two-thirds  of the membership concurring. An urgency statute may not create or abolish any office or change the salary, term, or duties of any office, or grant any franchise or special privilege, or create any vested right or interest.