COMMITTEE RULES FOR 2023-24
Except as otherwise provided in the Standing Rules of the Senate, these rules will govern the Senate Governance and Finance Committee during the 2023-24 Legislative Session:
OFFICERS
(a) The Officers of the Committee shall be a Chair, Vice Chair, and Committee Assistant.
(b) The Chair shall preside at meetings when present except when the Committee is considering a bill of which they are the sole author or the lead author. Whenever the Chair is not presiding, the Vice Chair shall assume the duties of the Chair. In the absence of both, a member designated by the Chair shall preside.
(c) The Committee Assistant shall keep a record of the meetings and actions taken by the Committee. Bills favorably acted upon shall be reported to the Senate as expeditiously as the reports can be prepared.
MEETINGS
(d) The Committee shall meet in regular session on the day and hour designated by the Rules Committee. Adjourned meetings or special meetings shall be held at the time fixed in the adjourning motion, or on the call of the Chair for the special meeting.
(e) Special meetings may be called by the Chair, with the approval of the Rules Committee, by giving reasonable notice to all members of the Committee either by electronic mail or by telephone specifying the purpose of the meeting, the time and place thereof, and the matters to be considered at such special meeting.
Notice of hearing of bills as provided by subdivision (a) of Joint Rule 62 shall also be given in the Daily File. No matter shall be considered at such special meeting other than that specified in the notice.
A special meeting shall be scheduled so as to permit all members of the Committee to attend without conflict with other scheduled committee meetings.
QUORUM
(f) A majority of the membership of the Committee shall constitute a quorum. A vote of a majority of the membership of the Committee shall be required to table a bill, remove it from the table, or reconsider a vote on a bill.
(g) No action may be taken on any measure outside of a duly constituted Committee meeting.
CALENDAR
(h) The Chair shall set the hearings of bills and arrange the calendar for Committee hearings. Notice of hearing of bills shall be given to the author and such other persons requiring notice. A bill may not be considered in the absence of the author without his or her consent; except that a bill may be presented by either of the following:
(1) A member of the Senate or the Assembly, or
(2) Another representative of the author who is authorized in writing.
(i) The Committees or a subcommittee thereof, by a majority vote of the membership of the Committee, may meet in executive session for any purpose authorized by Section 9029 of the Government Code. Otherwise, all meetings shall be open and public.
(j) The Chair shall direct the order of presentation of the arguments for and against matters for consideration by the Committee, and shall permit questions to be asked by members of the Committee in an orderly fashion and in keeping with proper decorum.
RECONSIDERATION
(k) Further consideration of a bill which has been voted out of the Committee or defeated shall be by reconsideration only, as follows:
(1) A motion to reconsider a vote by which a bill is voted out shall be in order, and shall be voted upon at the same meeting. If such a motion is carried by a vote of a majority of the membership of the Committee, the bill may be considered at that meeting, provided the author is present, or at a subsequent meeting.
(2) The procedure for reconsideration of a bill that has been defeated shall conform to the requirements of subdivision (a) Joint Rule 62. Any bill as to which reconsideration has been granted pursuant to this paragraph may not be heard again until a subsequent meeting of the Committee, after being calendared in the Daily File.
TABLED BILL
(l) Any bill which has been laid on the table and is removed from the table at a later meeting shall not be heard again until a subsequent meeting of the Committee, after being calendared in the Daily File and after notice.
AMENDMENTS
(m) When the Committee adopts proposed amendments to a bill, the bill may be taken up for vote at that meeting or, if the Committee or author requests, sent out to print before final action. If the amendments are not in proper form, they shall be prepared and submitted to the Chair for approval before being reported to the Desk. Authors shall submit their amendments in Legislative Counsel form to the Committee by noon at least seven calendar days before the bill is scheduled for hearing, unless the Chair directs otherwise.
BILL REFERRAL
(n) A bill may not be set for hearing, nor may any notice thereof be published, by the Committee until the bill has been referred to the Committee by the Committee on Rules.
SUBCOMMITTEES
(o) The Chair may appoint, with the permission of the Committee on Rules, subcommittees of one or more members to consider and recommend to the full Committee action on matters as may be assigned to the subcommittee for consideration from time to time by the Chair. The Chair may assign and reassign members of, and matters to, the various subcommittees. The recommendation of a subcommittee may be accepted by the affirmative vote of a majority of the members of the Committee.
OTHER RULES
(p) In all cases not provided for by this rule, the Senate Rules, or the Joint Rules of the Senate and Assembly, or statute, the authority shall be the latest edition of Mason’s Manual.
CONSENT CALENDAR
(q) The following rules govern the placement of bills on the Committee’s Consent Calendar:
(1) The agenda for each hearing shall identify bills proposed for the Consent Calendar as part of the Committee’s regular packet of bill analyses.
(2) Any Committee member may withdraw any bill from the Consent Calendar at any time. Members may notify Committee staff before the hearing or withdraw a bill at the hearing. Committee staff shall notify the bill’s author.
(3) A bill is eligible for the Committee’s Consent Calendar if it:
(A) Has no recorded opposition.
(4) At the Chair’s direction, the Committee shall vote on the Consent Calendar during the hearing.
COMMITTEE RECORDS
(r) The Committee Assistant is the custodian of the Committee’s legislative records. Pursuant to Section 9080 of the Government Code, the Committee Assistant shall preserve the Committee’s current legislative records and may lodge the Committee’s older legislative records with the State Archives. The Committee’s legislative records that are in the possession of the Committee Assistant are open to inspection and copying by the public in the Committee’s office, Room 408 of the State Capitol, during the normal office hours of 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Monday through Friday, on dates in which the Committee office is open to the public. The Committee’s legislative records that are lodged with the State Archives are open to inspection and copying by the public, subject to the procedures established by the Secretary of State.
Adopted by the Senate Governance and Finance Committee
