The Legislature will not reconvene its regular session on Monday, April 13, 2020. A date for restarting the session has not been announced.
Senate President pro Tem Toni Atkins in an interview with a San Diego media outlet this week, said in part:
“Given what the governor and our public health officials have stated, it has become increasingly clear that the April 13 return date the Legislature envisioned isn’t feasible. Our top priority has to remain helping flatten the COVID-19 transmission curve to prevent our health care systems from being overwhelmed. I will continue working with Speaker [Anthony] Rendon on a bicameral path forward, and I hope that in short order we will be conducting our business in a way that ensures the public’s participation and protects the public’s health.”
The Legislature, through policy and fiscal committee chairs and staff, is starting to issue preliminary directives regarding the consideration of legislation and the approach to the state budget process in light of the continued suspension of the legislative session.
It is clear that the Legislature will focus on the COVID-19 pandemic and its economic and social effects once it returns to Sacramento. Legislators are being told to reduce the number of bills they are authoring and to restrict the remaining few to issues that relate to COVID-19. Some committees have announced they will not hear any bill that is not COVID-19 related.
An example of this new approach to legislating came in a message this week [sent before the Atkins statement] from Assembly Natural Resources Committee Chair Laura Friedman to authors with bills pending in the Natural Resources Committee stated:
“Due to the COVID-19 crisis, the Natural Resources Committee is preparing to hear a limited number of the highest priority bills prior to the current Joint Rule 61 deadline of April 24 for non-urgency, fiscal bills. Accordingly, if you have a measure that you feel must be heard prior to April 24, and enacted this year, because it addresses COVID-19 or another urgent priority, recognizing the limited resources expected in the budget this year, please let the committee know as soon as possible, and provide any supporting arguments to justify the urgency.
I have applied this prioritization to my own bills and decided to not pursue more than 2/3 of the bills I introduced this year, including seven of 11 bills in Natural Resources Committee’s jurisdiction.”
The chair of the Assembly Budget Committee, in a March 30 letter to his Assembly colleagues, asked that legislators no longer send him a list of priority budget requests, admonishing legislators that:
“We must lower expectations about our budget outlook to reflect our new reality. With state revenues likely being dramatically reduced in the coming year, I do not believe we have resources to fund many Member priorities this year, beyond a small few that deal with the response and recovery to COVID 19.”
As a point of reference, on Nov. 20, 2019, the Office of the Legislative Analyst wrote:
“The annual Fiscal Outlook publication gives our office’s independent assessment of the California state budget condition for the upcoming fiscal year and over the longer term. We find the budget continues to be in good condition with an estimated $7 billion surplus in 2020-21. However, we recommend the Legislature be cautious in allocating this surplus. Specifically, we suggest the Legislature initially plan to dedicate: (1) no more than $1 billion to ongoing purposes; (2) a significant portion toward building reserves and paying down debt; and (3) focus the remaining surplus on one-time, flexible commitments that can be changed midyear if needed.”
In a March 12, 2020 blog post, legislative analyst Gabriel Petek writes “the odds of a recession have increased substantially within a short period of time,” however, “because the state has accelerated the pay down of debt, maintained a multiyear balanced budget, and holds a significant cash cushion, California is better prepared to weather the public health crisis and unfolding economic downturn.”
It seems likely that the Newsom Administration and legislative budget writers will be working behind the scenes on an FY 2020-21 State Budget that reflects the budget approved last summer (FY 2019-20), current revenue projections (significant downturns) and only funds new programmatic levels as dictated by the state government’s response to COVID-19. Targeted assistance to local agencies, nonprofit organizations and public schools may be considered as well.
The delay of the state tax filing deadline from April 15 to July 15, 2020 also will delay the ability of the Governor to produce the now traditional May Revision. Therefore, we foresee continued activity related to the FY 2020-21 State Budget throughout the remainder of the legislative session. This activity will be evidenced by the consideration and passage of budget trailer bills. Again, although there have not been any official pronouncements, it is easy to forecast that the Legislature’s summer recess—now scheduled for July 3 through July 30—will not take place. There are only two key State Constitutional requirements of concern here: the passage of a state budget by June 15 [Article IV, Section 12(c)]; and the last day for each house to pass bills, August 31 [Article IV, Section 10(c)]. Rules of the Senate and Assembly may otherwise be waived or amended on a two-thirds vote of the house.
Author: Seth Reeb
Seth Reeb of Reeb Government Relations is veterans legislative advocate for the American Legion Department of California and a member of El Dorado Post 119.
