BILL NUMBER: SCA 20 INTRODUCED
BILL TEXT
INTRODUCED BY Senators Perata, Costa, Escutia, Johannessen, Kelley,
Monteith, Murray, Peace, and Polanco
MAY 8, 2000
Senate Constitutional Amendment No. 20--A resolution to propose to
the people of the State of California an amendment to the
Constitution of the State, by amending Sections 2 and 12 of Article
IV thereof, and by amending Section 7 of Article XX thereof, relating
to the Legislature.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SCA 20, as introduced, Perata. Legislature: term limits: budget
bill.
The California Constitution establishes the California
Legislature, consisting of the Senate and the Assembly. Under the
California Constitution, no Senator may serve more than 2 terms of 4
years each, and no Member of the Assembly may serve more than 3 terms
of 2 years each, as specified.
This measure would provide instead that a Senator may not serve
more than 3 consecutive terms in that office and that a Member of the
Assembly may not serve more than 6 consecutive terms in that office,
commencing in 2000, as specified.
The California Constitution requires the annual Budget Bill to be
introduced in each house by the chairs of the committees in each
house that consider appropriations.
This measure would instead require the annual Budget Bill to be
introduced in each house by the chairs of committees in each house
that consider the budget.
The California Constitution requires the Legislature to pass the
Budget Bill by midnight on June 15 of each year.
This measure would require, commencing with the Budget Bill for
the 2003-04 fiscal year, forfeiture of the salaries of all Members of
the Legislature if the Budget Bill, as defined, is not passed by the
Legislature by midnight on June 30. The forfeiture would continue
from midnight on June 30 until the Budget Bill is passed by the
Legislature. The measure would preclude paying those salaries
retroactively. The measure would also include the amount of that
forfeiture in the maximum amount permitted under the California
Constitution for that fiscal year for the total aggregate
expenditures of the Legislature, as specified.
Vote: 2/3. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: no.
Resolved by the Senate, the Assembly concurring, That the
Legislature of the State of California at its 1999-2000 Regular
Session commencing on the seventh day of December 1998, 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 2 of Article IV is amended to read:
SEC. 2. (a) The Senate has a membership of 40 Senators elected
for 4-year four-year terms, 20 to
begin every 2 two years. No Senator
may serve more than 2 three consecutive
terms.
The Assembly has a membership of 80 members elected for
2-year two-year terms. No member
Member of the Assembly may serve more than
3 six consecutive terms.
Their terms shall commence on the first Monday in December next
following their election.
(b) Election of members Members of
the Assembly shall be on the first Tuesday after the first Monday in
November of even-numbered years unless otherwise prescribed by the
Legislature. Senators shall be elected at the same time and places
as members Members of the Assembly.
(c) A person is ineligible to be a member of the Legislature
unless the person is an elector and has been a resident of the
legislative district for one year, and a citizen of the United States
and a resident of California for 3 three
years, immediately preceding the election.
(d) When a vacancy occurs in the Legislature the Governor
immediately shall call an election to fill the vacancy.
(e) A Senator who has served three consecutive terms, or a Member
of the Assembly who has served six consecutive terms, may next be
reelected to that office to a term that commences upon the expiration
of one intervening complete term of office.
Second--That Section 12 of Article IV 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) The budget shall be accompanied by a budget bill itemizing
recommended expenditures. The bill shall be introduced immediately
in each house by the persons chairing the committees that consider
appropriations the budget . The
Legislature shall pass the budget bill by midnight on June 15 of each
year. Until the budget bill has been enacted, the Legislature
shall may 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 not including the
salaries of Members of the Legislature .
(d) No bill except the budget bill 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, are void unless passed in each
house by rollcall vote entered in the journal, two thirds
two-thirds of the membership concurring.
(e) The Legislature may control the submission, approval, and
enforcement of budgets and the filing of claims for all state
agencies.
(f) Notwithstanding 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 30, each Member of the Legislature shall forfeit any salary
for the period from midnight on June 30 until the date that the
budget bill is passed. Forfeited salary may not be paid
retroactively. The total amount of salary forfeited by Members of
the Legislature under this subdivision during any fiscal year shall
be counted as part of the total aggregate expenditures of the
Legislature for that fiscal year for purposes of Section 7.5. For
purposes of this subdivision, the passage of a budget bill is deemed
to occur when a bill is passed that would make appropriations for the
support of the government of the State for the entire fiscal year.
Third--That Section 7 of Article XX is amended to read:
SEC. 7. (a) The limitations on the number of terms
prescribed by Section 2 of Article IV, as amended November 6,
1990, Sections 2 and 11 of Article V, Section 2 of Article IX,
and Section 17 of Article XIII apply only to terms to which persons
are elected or appointed on or after November 6, 1990, except that an
incumbent Senator whose office is not on the ballot for the general
election on that date may serve only one additional term.
Those limitations shall
(b) Section 2 of Article IV, as amended by the measure that added
this subdivision, applies, for purposes including term limitations
and the computation of consecutive terms, to any term of office as a
Senator or Member of the Assembly that commences on or after December
2, 2000, and also includes the term of an incumbent Senator whose
office is not on the ballot for the November 7, 2000, general
election.
(c) The term limitations identified in this section do not
apply to any unexpired term to which a person is elected or appointed
if the remainder of the term is less than half of the full term.
And be it further resolved, That the amendments to Section 12 of
Article IV of the California Constitution made by this measure shall
apply to the budget bill for the 2003-04 fiscal year and each
subsequent fiscal year, and shall apply for all purposes commencing
July 1, 2003.