
Too Many Laws
There are many joys of being a Californian. The price of housing, the price of gas and the price of electricity are just a few. One that is not discussed is how our elected leaders are constantly changing the laws under which we are governed. This is one of the worst aspects of our “independent press” which barely discusses the matter. It has become custom for California’s full-time legislature to justify their collective existence by feeling compelled to propose a laundry list of new bills to become law. Each member can submit fifty bills in every two-year session. With 120 members, there could be 6,000 bills every session or 3,000 bills annually. It seems that each member attempts to make that “quota.”
The number gets whittled down, but not by much. The amount of bills passed is significant: 2021 – 965 bills; 2022-998; 2023-1046. The Governor gets a hack at them once passed by the Assembly and State Senate, but maybe “hack” is not an appropriate verb here. In the first year of the session, he has 12 days from passing of the bills to sign them into law or veto. In year two, the governor has 30 days. Newsom signed into law:… Read More