SCA 12

Bill Subjects

Abstract

(1) The California Constitution requires the Legislature to pass, by midnight on June 15 of each year, a Budget Bill for the ensuing fiscal year. The Legislature is prohibited from sending to the Governor for consideration a Budget Bill that would appropriate from the General Fund for that fiscal year a total amount that, when combined with other specified amounts, exceeds General Fund revenues for that fiscal year estimated as of the date of the Budget Bill's passage and set forth in the Budget Bill. In any year in which the Budget Bill is not passed by the Legislature by midnight on June 15, the California Constitution prohibits an appropriation from the current or a 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. The California Constitution creates the office of the Controller, and existing law vests in the Controller specified responsibilities with respect to the fiscal concerns of the state. This measure would require the Controller, no later than 3 days following the date upon which the Legislature has presented to the Governor the Budget Bill for a fiscal year, to determine whether the total amount the Budget Bill would appropriate from the General Fund for that fiscal year, when combined with other specified amounts, exceeds General Fund revenues for that fiscal year as estimated by the Controller, and to notify the Legislature and the Governor accordingly. If the Controller determines that his or her estimate of General Fund revenues for that fiscal year is so exceeded, payments of salary and reimbursement for travel or living expenses for Members of the Legislature would be forfeited for the period from midnight on the date of that notification or midnight on June 15, whichever is later, until the Budget Bill has been enacted and the Controller's estimate of General Fund revenues for that fiscal year is no longer exceeded, or, if the Budget Bill has been enacted and that excess has not been eliminated, until the Legislature presents to the Governor one or more bills that would increase General Fund revenues, decrease General Fund appropriations, or both, in an amount that would eliminate that excess. This measure would also prohibit the Budget Bill and other bills providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill, as defined, from being heard or acted on by a committee or either house until the 3rd day after those bills have been printed and distributed, or otherwise made available, to the Members of the Legislature. (2) If, following the enactment of the Budget Bill for a fiscal year, the Governor determines that General Fund revenues for that fiscal year will decline substantially below the estimate of General Fund revenues upon which the Budget Bill was based or General Fund expenditures will increase substantially above that estimate of General Fund revenues, or both, the California Constitution permits the Governor to declare a fiscal emergency and require the Legislature to assemble in special session. 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 Governor's declaration of a fiscal emergency, the Legislature is prohibited from acting on any other bill or adjourning for a joint recess until that bill or those bills have been passed and sent to the Governor. This measure would require the Governor's declaration of a fiscal emergency to specify the amount by which General Fund revenues will decline substantially below the estimate of General Fund revenues determined by the Controller or by which General Fund expenditures will increase substantially above that estimate of General Fund revenues, or both. This measure would also provide that, if the Legislature fails to send to the Governor a bill or bills that address the fiscal emergency by the 45th day following the Governor's declaration of a fiscal emergency, the actions the Legislature is prohibited from taking include hearing, amending, or voting on any other bill in either house of the Legislature or a committee thereof, except a bill addressing an emergency, as defined, declared by the Governor. In addition, this measure would specify that a bill or bills shall be deemed to address the fiscal emergency only if the bill or bills, if enacted, would increase General Fund revenues, decrease General Fund expenditures, or both, by an amount at least equal to the sum of the revenue shortfall and expenditure increase, as applicable, identified in the Governor's declaration of a fiscal emergency. The measure would require a bill addressing the fiscal emergency to declare the amount by which it would increase General Fund revenues, decrease General Fund expenditures, or both. (3) The California Constitution provides for the power of referendum, whereby voters may approve or reject statutes or part of statutes, except urgency statutes, statutes calling elections, statutes providing for tax levies, and statutes providing for appropriations for the usual current expenses of the state. This measure would declare that the Budget Bill and other bills providing for appropriations related to the Budget Bill are subject to referendum.