The legislative calendar establishes a schedule for the 2015-16 Legislative Session and provides important deadlines to the legislative process. While this is a general outline for the legislative year, the Senate and Assembly Daily Files contain the scheduled events for each day the Legislature is in session. These include committee meetings, scheduled hearings, and Governor’s vetoes. For more information on the Legislative Calendar and Schedules, click here.
January 1 – Bills passed in the previous year take effect, unless they have been designated as “urgency” bills with immediate implementation, or a bill that will take extra time to implement (often given a July 1st effective date).
January 5 – Legislature reconvenes for the first half of a two-year session.
January 30 – Last day to submit new bill drafts to the Office of the Legislative Counsel. The Legislative Counsel takes the verbiage (sometimes makes adjustments) and puts it into bill form for the legislators to consider.
February 21 – Last day for bills to be introduced for the 2015 year. That means a bill, in the form created by the Legislative Counsel, needs to have an Author (a legislator) and a number assigned to it (ex: SB 123 or AB 123) in order to be introduced.
March 26 – Spring Recess.
April 6 – Legislature reconvenes from Spring Recess.
June 5 – Last day to pass bills out of their house of origin. If the bill is a Senate Bill (SB 123, etc.), then it needs to pass out of the Senate by this date and be sent over to the Assembly for its action. The same is true of Assembly bills needing to pass and being sent to the Senate.
July 17 – Summer Recess begins providing the Budget has been passed.
August 17 – Legislature reconvenes from Summer Recess.
September 11 – Last day for any bill to pass to the Governor in what is termed an “enrolled” version. The “enrollment” process includes the notation of the exact date and time each bill is sent to the Governor to sign or veto, or he may allow it to become law without signing. (There is no “pocket veto” in California, unlike federal, which allows the President to kill a bill simply by not taking any action whatsoever.) Interim Study Recess begins upon adjournment. Any two-year bills will be assigned to the appropriate committee for study while the Legislature is not in session.
October 11 – Last day for the Governor to sign or veto bills passed by the Legislature. If bills are signed by the Governor, they are CHAPTERED; in other words, filed with the Secretary of State and assigned a chapter number for reference and inclusion in the codes, of which there are 29 (Civil Code, Vehicle Code, etc.).
January 1, 2016 – Statutes take effect.
January 4, 2016 – Legislature reconvenes from Interim Recess.
For a glossary of legislative terms, click here.