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    Goodbye Constitution Freedom America by Don Jans

    CA bills in danger in ‘suspense file’

    CalMatters

    Lynn La  LYNN LA  MAY 10, 2023

    If you’re the author or supporter of a bill before the California Legislature, this is one list you dread: While getting sent to the “suspense file” doesn’t seal a measure’s fate, it does put it at some risk of being killed for the year.

    Leading up to the big suspense file decision day next week, the Assembly and Senate appropriations committees are putting together lists of bills — and lots of high-profile ones are on them. Here’s a selection:

    Education:

    Environment and climate change:

    • SB 252: Wind down investments in fossil fuel companies from pension funds for state employees and teachers.
    • SB 253: Require large corporations to disclose greenhouse gas emissions.
    • SB 261: Require companies with $500 million in revenue to prepare climate financial risk reports.

    Labor and the economy:

    Public safety:

    Reproductive rights and health care:

    A reminder of how the suspense file process works: Twice a year, the two appropriations committees bulldoze their way through hundreds of bills that include more than negligible spending and that they must consider before the end of the legislative session.

    In May, the committees go rapid-fire through bills from their own house. In August, legislators will cull bills that have passed from the other house. Last year, they killed about 200 on each day of marathon hearings.

    Holding a bill in the suspense file is a convenient way for lawmakers to essentially kill a bill, without a recorded vote or explanation. That’s particularly useful on controversial measures, where a public vote or comment could be weaponized against legislators in campaign ads.


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