The Sacramento Scene
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State Bar of California, Office of Governmental Affairs The Sacramento Scene Vol. 1, No. 2 January 11, 2002 LEGISLATURE IS BACK! • • The Legislature returned to action Marco Antonio Firebaugh (D. on Monday, January 7, and East Los Angeles) will be the immediately began considering the Assembly’s new Majority Leader. many two-year bills that must clear Mr. Firebaugh has a law degree from their house of introduction by the UCLA. Dave Cox will continue to end of the month. Various policy be the Minority Leader. committees held hearings on Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, • Bion Gregory just retired as the and will continue through next week. Legislature’s longest serving January 18 is the last day for policy Legislative Counsel. Prior to committees to hear and send fiscal assuming the post of Legislative bills to the appropriations Counsel, Gregory was the Chief committees. Counsel to the Senate Judiciary Committee. He served as Legislative • On Thursday, January 10, the Counsel from 11/22/76 to 1/4/02. Assembly -- by unanimous voice vote Gregory’s successor has not yet been – elected Herb Wesson (D- Culver named. City/Los Angeles) the Assembly’s 65th Speaker. Mr. Wesson will LEGISLATION assume the duties of Speaker on February 6 - replacing current • Bills Introduced. California Speaker Bob Hertzberg (D-Van lawmakers introduced 91 new bills Nuys/Los Angeles). In a show of during their first week back and bipartisan spirit, Minority Leader amended 180 others. Most of the Dave Cox (R- Fair amended bills were “gut-and- Oaks/Sacramento) and Tony amends” – i.e., brand new bills Strickland (R-Thousand created from olds bills that failed to Oaks/Ventura) both made speeches move in 2001. Bills will continue to praising the Speaker-elect, who introduced daily through February responded with big hugs for both 22 , the deadline to introduce bills. men. For an in-depth look at Mr. Wesson, you may want to read two • Summaries of 2001 Legislation recent profiles published in the San The Judicial Council's Office of Jose Mercury News and Sacramento Governmental Affairs has produced Bee (Note: The profiles are in the seven- a "2001 Legislative Summary" of day archives of the two papers, and will soon be moved to the regular archives, legislation of interest to courts, where they will be available only a pay-per- judges and practicing attorneys. view basis. See Mercury-News Archives The Senate Public Safety Committee and Sacramento Bee Archives if the above links do not work.) also has produced a "2001 Bill Summary of Measures Signed and Vetoed" in the criminal justice arena. ______________________ State Bar of California, Office of Governmental Affairs • www.calbar.org/govinfo.htm State Bar of California, Office of Governmental Affairs The Sacramento Scene Vol. 1, No. 2 January 11, 2002 may be found on the same page ANSWERS TO SOME FREQUENTLY (http://www.calbar.org/2ent/3oga/sear ASKED QUESTIONS ON FINDING ch.htm). AND TRACKING CALIFORNIA Q: HOW DO I FIND OUT WHEN BILLS LEGISLATION: ARE BEING HEARD? Q: HOW DO I FIND A BILL? A: A schedule of legislative hearings (including links to the bills being heard) A: If you want to find a bill, find out can be found at: when it will be heard, or listen to a http://www.legweb.com/cgi- legislative hearing, the Internet sites bin/hearing_data.cgi?session=5518f43b listed below may be useful. Or, if you 999795a08d971b706f8135b1 ever have a bad “web day” you can call our office and we can tell you about a In addition, the bill lists maintained by certain bill, where it is in the legislative the OGA (see above) provide a process, etc. “calendar” feature, which enables one to see when the bills on the list are Q: HOW DO I FIND OUT WHAT BILLS scheduled to be heard. ARE OUT THERE? Q: CAN I LISTEN TO THE LEGISLATIVE A: There are several legislative search HEARINGS? engines available for California legislation, including engines maintained by the office of Legislative A: Yes, both the Senate and the Counsel, the state Senate, and Legweb, a Assembly provide real-time audio links proprietary service with which this office to all committee hearings and Floor contracts. Each of the engines has sessions. slightly different search capabilities and • sorting features (e.g., by keyword, Senate Committee & Floor author, and range of Code sections). All Hearings – Listening to the are linked to the “Bill Search” page Senate committee hearings and maintained by the Office of floor sessions requires the (free) Governmental Affairs RealAudio player. (http://www.calbar.org/2ent/3oga/sear http://www.sen.ca.gov/htbin/te ch.htm) stbin/noframe_raudio • Assembly Committee & Floor To view all bills as they are introduced Hearings – The Assembly uses or amended day by day, go to: the built-in Windows Media http://www.calbar.org/2ent/3oga/View Player, which is convenient BillCatalogs.htm (assuming you have Microsoft Windows; we’re uncertain how/if The Office of Governmental Affairs also it works for Mac users). To use, maintains lists of legislation sponsored click on the link to the desired and tracked by the State Bar’s Board of Governors, and by many of the Bar’s hearing room or floor. affiliate entities (all funded through http://www.assembly.ca.gov/c voluntary sources). Links to these lists ommittee_hearings/ State Bar of California, Office of Governmental Affairs • www.calbar.org/govinfo.htm .