The California legislature proposes between 1,000 and 2,000 pieces of legislation per year, sometimes more. Nearly 1,000 get passed and signed into law each year. But what happens to the others?

Some are withdrawn by the authors for various reasons. Some die when one of the committees required to hear them fails to move them forward.

Bills that will cost the state over a certain amount of money must be heard by the Appropriations Committee. If they determine the ramifications of a bill would be too much for the State budget, they place it in the suspense file, where most of the time it is never seen again.

However, it is a bit premature to breathe a sigh of relief when an unfavorable bill is suspended.

Bills stuck in the Appropriations Suspense File

are not necessarily gone!

Note:

1. The Appropriations Committees can choose to:
   1. release a suspended bill back into the process, or
   2. allow it to die in suspension.
2. The contents of suspended bills can be:
   1. placed into a differently numbered bill through the gut and amend procedure, a despicable way to circumvent We the People and the entire cooperative process for legislation.

Gut and Amend definition: when the entire contents of a bill with an official number and title (usually completely uncontroversial) that has sailed through the committee process and public commentary are removed (gut) and a completely new bill’s language is inserted (amend) just in time for a floor vote.

This action allows legislators to pass a controversial bill without

the “inconvenience” of committee process and public comment.

Recently, four significant bills were placed in the suspense file by the Appropriations Committee of their respective House of Origin.

Everyone must continue to

keep an eye on the fate of these currently suspended bills:

AB 544 - voting in person in County jails (currently now listed as a 2-year bill, making it a threat for next year)

• read our STRONG letter of opposition

AB 1206 - regarding CA joining ERIC

• read our STRONG letters of opposition: Letter #1 and Letter 2

SB 858 - moving initiative and referendum ballot summary and title duties from Attorney General to Legislative Analyst Office

• EIPCa has not yet posted a support letter for this bill, but will do so if it comes up for reconsideration.

AB 1595 - gives ALL incarcerated felons voting rights (currently suspended by the author but WILL return because it is tied to a proposed constitutional amendment – ACA 4)

• read our STRONG letter of opposition

WHAT YOU MUST DO

• Familiarize yourself with the bills' contents and EIPCa’s position letters
• Watch for alerts from EIPCa
• Take the recommended actions if a bill is reactivated

Join us in true Self Governance!

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Suspense and Beyond     ©Election Integrity Project®California, Inc. copyrighted 2023