California Legislature—2013–14 Regular Session

Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 11

Introduced by Assembly Member Gorell

March 18, 2013

Assembly Constitutional Amendment No. 11—A resolution to propose to the people of the State of California an amendment to the Constitution of the State, by amending Sections 10 and 12 of, and by adding Section 12.5 to, Article IV thereof, relating to the state budget.

LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL’S DIGEST

ACA 11, as introduced, Gorell. State budget.

(1) The California Constitution authorizes the Governor, following the enactment of the budget bill for any fiscal year and based on a determination that General Fund expenditures will exceed General Fund revenues, to issue a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency and to cause the Legislature to assemble in special session to enact legislation to address the emergency. If the Legislature fails to pass and send to the Governor a bill or bills to address the fiscal emergency by the 45th day following the issuance of the proclamation, the Constitution prohibits the Legislature from acting on any other bill or adjourning for a joint recess until a bill or bills to address the emergency have been passed and sent to the Governor.

This measure would require that a bill addressing a fiscal emergency in this context be passed in each house of the Legislature by a 2⁄3 vote. The measure would authorize the Governor, if the Legislature fails to act by the 45th day following the emergency proclamation as described above, to issue a proclamation reducing or eliminating one or more items of appropriation from the General Fund for the fiscal year in which the fiscal emergency is declared, and to suspend for that fiscal year the operation of any statute to the extent that the operation of the statute is rendered infeasible by the reduction or elimination. The measure would prohibit the Governor from reducing or eliminating an item of appropriation if such action would have a substantially disproportionate impact on an identifiable geographic region within the state as compared to all other comparable geographic regions within the state. The measure would authorize the Legislature to cancel or amend an action taken by the Governor to reduce or eliminate an item of appropriation, or to suspend the operation of a statute, by a resolution passed in each house by a 2⁄3 vote.

(2) The California Constitution provides that the Budget Bill and other bills providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill, as defined, take effect immediately upon being signed by the Governor after passage by a majority vote of each house of the Legislature.

This measure would delete all references to other bills providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill and instead provide that bills that amend the Budget Bill and bills that implement the Budget Bill, as defined, take effect immediately upon being signed by the Governor after passage by a majority vote of each house of the Legislature. The measure would define “budget bill” as a single bill that, as passed for each fiscal year, makes a comprehensive set of appropriations for the support of state government for that fiscal year. The measure would also prohibit the Legislature from passing a Budget Bill, a bill that amends the Budget Bill, or a bill that implements the Budget Bill, if the bill was not published on the Internet for at least 72 hours prior to passage.

This measure would require the Legislature, from July 1 to July 31, inclusive, of each even-numbered year, to conduct oversight and review of state programs. The measure would prohibit the Legislature from acting on any bill during this period of time, except a bill that addresses a state of emergency, as defined, declared by the Governor, and that is passed by a 2⁄3 vote of both houses.

Vote: ²⁄₃. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.

Resolved by the Assembly, the Senate concurring, That the
Legislature of the State of California at its 2013-14 Regular
Session commencing on the third day of December 2012,
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:

First--  

That Section 10 of Article IV thereof is amended to read:

SEC. 10.  

(a) Each bill passed by the Legislature shall be
presented to the Governor. It becomes a statute if it is signed by
the Governor. The Governor may veto it by returning it with any
objections to the house of origin, which shall enter the objections
in the journal and proceed to reconsider it. If each house then
passes the bill by rollcall vote entered in the journal, two-thirds of
the membership concurring, it becomes a statute.

(b) (1) Any bill, other than a bill which would establish or
change boundaries of any begin delete legislative, congressional, or other end delete
election district, 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, that is not
returned within 30 days after that date becomes a statute.

(2) Any bill passed by the Legislature before September 1 of
the second calendar year of the biennium of the legislative session begin insert , end insert
and in the possession of the Governor on or after September 1 begin insert , end insert
that is not returned on or before September 30 of that year becomes
a statute.

(3) Any other bill presented to the Governor that is not returned
within 12 days becomes a statute.

(4) If the Legislature by adjournment of a special session
prevents the return of a bill with the veto message, the bill becomes
a statute unless the Governor vetoes the bill within 12 days after
it is presented by depositing it and the veto message in the office
of the Secretary of State.

(5) If the 12th day of the period within which the Governor is
required to perform an act pursuant to paragraph (3) or (4) begin delete of this
subdivision end delete is a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday, the period is
extended to the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday, or holiday.

(c) Any bill introduced during the first year of the biennium of
the legislative session that has not been passed by the house of
origin by January 31 of the second calendar year of the biennium
may no longer be acted on by the house. No bill may be passed
by either house on or after September 1 of an even-numbered year
except statutes calling elections, statutes providing for tax levies
or appropriations for the usual current expenses of the State, begin delete and end delete
urgency statutes, and bills passed after being vetoed by the
Governor.

(d) The Legislature may not present any bill to the Governor
after November 15 of the second calendar year of the biennium of
the legislative session.

(e) The Governor may reduce or eliminate one or more items
of appropriation while approving other portions of a bill. The
Governor shall append to the bill a statement of the items reduced
or eliminated with the reasons for the action. The Governor shall
transmit to the house originating the bill a copy of the statement
and reasons. Items reduced or eliminated shall be separately
reconsidered and may be passed over the Governor’s veto in the
same manner as bills.

(f) (1) If, following the enactment of the budget bill for begin delete the
2004-05 fiscal year or end delete any begin delete subsequent end delete fiscal year, the Governor
determines that, for that fiscal year, General Fund revenues will
decline substantially below the estimate of General Fund revenues
upon which the budget bill for that fiscal year, as enacted, was
based, or General Fund expenditures will increase substantially
above that estimate of General Fund revenues, or both, the
Governor may issue a proclamation declaring a fiscal emergency
and shall thereupon cause the Legislature to assemble in special
session for this purpose. The proclamation shall identify the nature
of the fiscal emergency and shall be submitted by the Governor
to the Legislature, accompanied by proposed legislation to address
the fiscal emergency.

(2) If the Legislature fails to pass and send to the Governor a
bill or bills to address the fiscal emergency by the 45th day
following the issuance of the proclamation, begin delete the end delete begin insert both of the
following shall apply: end insert

begin insert

(A) The Governor may, by written proclamation, reduce or
eliminate one or more items of appropriation from the General
Fund for the fiscal year in which the fiscal emergency is declared.
In a proclamation issued pursuant to this subparagraph, the
Governor may also suspend for that fiscal year the operation of
any statute to the extent that the operation of the statute is rendered
infeasible by the reduction or elimination of an item of
appropriation. The Governor shall not reduce or eliminate an item
of appropriation pursuant to this subparagraph if that action would
have a substantially disproportionate impact on an identifiable
geographic region within the state as compared to all other
comparable geographic regions within the state. The Legislature
may cancel or amend an action taken by the Governor pursuant
to this subparagraph to reduce or eliminate an item of
appropriation, or to suspend the operation of a statute, by a
resolution passed in each house by rollcall vote entered in the
journal, two-thirds of the membership concurring.

end insert

begin insert (B) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert The end insert Legislature may not act on any other bill, nor may the
Legislature adjourn for a joint recess, until that bill or those bills
have been passed and sent to the Governor.

(3) A bill addressing the fiscal emergency declared pursuant to
this section shall contain a statement to that effect begin insert and shall be
passed in each house by rollcall vote entered in the journal,
two-thirds of the membership concurring end insert .

Second--  

That Section 12 of Article IV thereof is amended to
read:

SEC. 12.  

(a) Within the first 10 days of each calendar year,
the Governor shall submit to the Legislature, with an explanatory
message, a budget for the ensuing fiscal year containing itemized
statements for recommended state expenditures and estimated state
revenues. If recommended expenditures exceed estimated revenues,
the Governor shall recommend the sources from which the
additional revenues should be provided.

(b) The Governor and the Governor-elect may require a state
agency, officer or employee to furnish whatever information is
deemed necessary to prepare the budget.

(c) (1) The budget shall be accompanied by a budget bill
itemizing recommended expenditures.

(2) The budget bill shall be introduced immediately in each
house by the persons chairing the committees that consider the
budget.

(3) The Legislature shall pass the budget bill by midnight on
June 15 of each year.

(4) Until the budget bill has been enacted, the Legislature shall
not send to the Governor for consideration any bill appropriating
funds for expenditure during the fiscal year for which the budget
bill is to be enacted, except emergency bills recommended by the
Governor or appropriations for the salaries and expenses of the
Legislature.

(d) No bill except the budget bill begin insert , or a bill that amends the
budget bill, end insert may contain more than one item of appropriation, and
that for one certain, expressed purpose. Appropriations from the
General Fund of the State, except appropriations for the public
schools begin delete and end delete begin insert , end insert appropriations in the budget bill begin delete and in other bills
providing for appropriations related to the budget bill end delete begin insert ,
appropriations in a bill that amends the budget bill, and
appropriations in a bill that implements the budget bill end insert , are void
unless passed in each house by rollcall vote entered in the journal,
two-thirds of the membership concurring.

(e)  begin delete (1) end delete begin delete   end delete begin delete Notwithstanding any other provision of law or of this
Constitution, the end delete begin insert The end insert budget bill begin delete and other bills providing for
appropriations related to the budget bill may be end delete begin insert , bills that amend
the budget bill, and bills that implement the budget bill, upon being end insert
passed in each house by rollcall vote entered in the journal, a
majority of the membership concurring, begin delete to end delete begin insert shall end insert take effect
immediately upon being signed by the Governor or upon a date
specified in the legislation. begin delete Nothing in this subdivision shall affect
the vote requirement for appropriations for the public schools
contained in subdivision (d) of this section and in subdivision (b)
of Section 8 of this article. end delete

begin delete

(2) For purposes of this section, “other bills providing for
appropriations related to the budget bill” shall consist only of bills
identified as related to the budget in the budget bill passed by the
Legislature.

end delete begin delete

(f) 

end delete begin insert

(f) For purposes of this section, the following terms have the
following meanings:

end insert begin insert

(1) “Budget bill” means a single bill, except as provided in
subdivision (c), that, as passed for each fiscal year, makes a
comprehensive set of appropriations for the support of state
government for that fiscal year.

end insert begin insert

(2) “Bill that amends the budget bill” means a bill that states
in its title that it amends or augments the enacted budget bill, and
embraces the same subject as a budget bill.

end insert begin insert

(3) “Bill that implements the budget bill” means a bill that
makes statutory changes related to implementation of the budget
bill, is in print in its final form when the budget bill is first voted
on for passage in either house, is identified as a bill that
implements the budget bill in the budget bill passed by the
Legislature, and is voted on for passage in either house within 5
days of the final vote of the Legislature to pass the budget bill.

end insert begin insert

(g) Neither house of the Legislature shall pass a budget bill, a
bill that amends the budget bill, or a bill that implements the budget
bill unless the bill has been published in its final form on the
Internet for at least 72 hours prior to passage. This subdivision
does not apply to an urgency statute that addresses a state of
emergency declared by the Governor due to an emergency as
defined in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) of Section 3 of Article
XIII B.

end insert

begin insert (h) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert The end insert Legislature may control the submission, approval, and
enforcement of budgets and the filing of claims for all state
agencies.

begin delete

(g) 

end delete

begin insert (i) end insert begin insert   end insert begin insert The end insert Legislature may not send to the Governor for
consideration, nor may the Governor sign into law, a budget bill
that would appropriate from the General Fund, for that fiscal year,
a total amount that, when combined with all appropriations from
the General Fund for that fiscal year made as of the date of the
budget bill’s passage, and the amount of any General Fund moneys
transferred to the Budget Stabilization Account for that fiscal year
pursuant to Section 20 of Article XVI, exceeds General Fund
revenues for that fiscal year estimated as of the date of the budget
bill’s passage. That estimate of General Fund revenues shall be
set forth in the budget bill passed by the Legislature.

begin delete

(h)

end delete

begin insert (j) end insert  Notwithstanding any other provision of law or of this
Constitution, including subdivision (c) of this section, Section 4
of this article, and Sections 4 and 8 of Article III, in any year in
which the budget bill is not passed by the Legislature by midnight
on June 15, there shall be no appropriation from the current budget
or future budget to pay any salary or reimbursement for travel or
living expenses for Members of the Legislature during any regular
or special session for the period from midnight on June 15 until
the day that the budget bill is presented to the Governor. No salary
or reimbursement for travel or living expenses forfeited pursuant
to this subdivision shall be paid retroactively.

Third--  

That Section 12.5 is added to Article IV thereof, to read:

SEC. 12.5.  

From July 1 to July 31, inclusive, of each
even-numbered year, the Legislature shall conduct oversight and
review of state programs. The Legislature may not act on any bill
during this period of time, except a bill that addresses a state of
emergency declared by the Governor due to an emergency as
defined in paragraph (2) of subdivision (c) of Section 3 of Article
XIII B and is passed in each house by rollcall vote entered in the
journal, two-thirds of the membership concurring.