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California State Legislative Reform Act, Initiative Text

This initiative measure is submitted to the People of California in accordance with the provisions of Article II of Section 8 of the California State Constitution.

This initiative measure expressly amends the Constitution by amending sections thereof; therefore, existing provisions proposed to be deleted are printed in ~~strikeout~~ type and new provisions proposed to be added are printed in underlined type to indicate they are new.

PROPOSED LAW

SECTION 1. TITLE
This initiative amendment shall be known and may be cited as the "California State Legislative Reform Act."

SECTION 2: COMPENSATION AND PUBLIC APPROVAL
That Subdivision (g) of Section 8 of Article III is amended to read:
(g) (1) On or before December 3, 1990, the commission shall, by a single resolution adopted by a majority of the membership of the commission, establish the annual salary and the medical, dental, insurance, and other similar benefits of state officers. The annual salary and benefits specified in that resolution shall be effective on and after December 3, 1990.
Thereafter, at or before the end of each fiscal year, the commission shall, by a single resolution adopted by a majority of the membership of the commission, adjust ~~the annual salary and~~ the medical, dental, insurance, and other similar benefits of state officers. The annual ~~salary and~~ benefits specified in the resolution shall be effective on and after the ~~first Monday of the next December.~~ January 1 next following.
(2) On and after the operative date of this paragraph, the annual salary of each and every Member of the Legislature shall be maintained at $99,000, subject to adjustment pursuant to paragraph (3).
(3) On and after the operative date of this date paragraph, the commission may propose the adjustment of the annual salary of state officers by adopting, by a majority of the membership of the commission, a resolution proposing that adjustment. That resolution shall be submitted to the voters at the next statewide election in accordance with applicable statutes governing the submission of statewide measures to the voters and, if approved by a majority of the voters thereon, shall take effect the day after the election.

SECTION 3. LEGISLATIVE SESSION
That Section 3 of Article IV is amended to read:
SEC. 3. (a) The legislature shall convene ~~in regular session at noon on the first Monday in December~~ at noon on the second Monday of January of each ~~even-~~ odd-numbered year and each house shall immediately organize. No bill shall be introduced in either house until each house has organized. No bill shall be introduced in either house until each house has organized. After Midnight April 15, no bill shall be introduced in either house without the consent of three-fourths of the membership of that house. No substantive amendment of any bill shall be allowed after Midnight April 15. The Legislator must withdraw the original bill and submit a new bill to the house. The only exception to this requirement is the State Budget .The Legislature shall not meet in regular session after July 2 except to reconsider, on or before July 31, one or more bills returned by the Governor. Each session of the Legislature shall adjourn sine die by operation of the Constitution at midnight on ~~November 30~~ July 31 of ~~the following even-numbered~~ that year.
(b) On extraordinary occasions, the Governor by proclamation may cause the Legislature to assemble in special session. When so assembled it has the power to legislate only on subjects specified in the proclamation but may provide for operating expenses and other matters incidental to the session.

SECTION 4. PERQUISITE EXPENSES
That subdivision (b) of Section 4 of Article IV is amended to read:
(b) (1) Travel and living expenses for Members of the Legislature in connection with their official duties shall be prescribed by statute passes by rollcall vote entered in the journal, two-thirds of the membership of each house concurring. A Member may not receive travel and living expenses during the times that the Legislature is in recess for more than three calendar days, unless the Member is traveling to or from, or is in attendance at, any meeting of a committee of which he or she is a Member, or a meeting, conference, or other legislative function or responsibility as authorized by the rules of the house of which he or she is a member, which is held at a location at least 20 miles from his or her place of residence. No public funds may be expended to provide per diem, or living expenses for Members of the Legislature in connection with their official duties. Also, travel expenses can only be utilized for travel to and from the Capitol for the purpose of attending sessions. No public funds shall be expended for the cost of providing a vehicle for the use of any Member or employee of the Legislature.

SECTION 5. STATE BUDGET.
That Section 12 of Article IV thereof is amended to read:
SEC. 12. (a) Within the first 10 days of each calendar year, the Governor shall submit to the Legislature, with an explanatory message, a budget for the ensuing fiscal year containing itemized statements for recommended state expenditures and estimated state revenues. If recommended expenditures exceed estimated revenues, the Governor shall recommend the sources from which the additional revenues should be provided.
(b) The Governor and the Governor-elect may require a state agency, officer or employee to furnish whatever information is deemed necessary to prepare the budget.
(c) The budget shall be accompanied by a budget bill itemizing recommended expenditures. The bill shall be introduced immediately in each house by the persons chairing the committees that consider appropriations. The Legislature shall pass the budget bill by midnight on June 15 of each year. Until the budget bill has been enacted, the Legislature shall not send to the Governor for consideration any bill appropriating funds for expenditure during the fiscal year for which the budget bill is to be enacted, except emergency bills recommended by the Governor or appropriations for the salaries and expenses of the Legislature.
(d) No bill except the budget bill may contain more than one item of appropriation, and that for one certain, expressed purpose. Appropriations from the General Fund of the State, except appropriations made in the budget bill and appropriations for the public schools, are void unless passed in each house by rollcall vote entered in the journal, two thirds of the membership concurring.
(e) The Legislature may control the submission, approval, and enforcement of budgets and the filing of claims for all state agencies.
(f) The total of all expenditures that are authorized to be made from the General Fund of the State for any fiscal year by the budget bill and any other statute, combined with the total of all General Fund reserves that are authorized by the State for that fiscal year, and any deficit in the General Fund remaining from the preceding fiscal year, shall not exceed the total of all revenues and other resources, including reserves for prior years, that are estimated to be available to the State for General Fund purposes for that fiscal year. The total amount of those General Fund expenditures and reserves authorized by the budget bill and any other statute for that fiscal year, as of the date of enactment of the budget bill, together with any deficit in the General Fund remaining from the preceding fiscal year, and the total amount of revenues and other resources, including reserves, estimated to be available to the State for General Fund purposes for that fiscal year, shall be expressly set forth in the budget bill.
(g)(1) The budget bill shall include a budget adjustment plan, which shall consist of budget adjustments intended to eliminate any budget imbalance greater than 10 percent of the total General Fund budget, as identified pursuant to paragraph (2). The budget adjustments shall make specific reductions in the appropriations made in the budget act and any other statute as may be necessary to eliminate General Fund budget imbalance. For purposes of this section, the �General Fund budget� for a fiscal year is the total of all expenditures that are authorized to be made from the General Fund of the State for that fiscal year by the budget act and any other statute, combined with the total of all General Fund reserves that are authorized by the State for that fiscal year.
(2) Upon the conclusion of each of the fiscal year quarters ending September 30, December 31, and March 31, the Legislative Analyst shall complete a projection of the General Fund balance for the entire fiscal year and shall report that projection to the Legislature and the Governor. Each report shall identify the extent, if any, by which the total of all expenditures that are authorized to be made from the General Fund of the State for that fiscal year by the budget act and any other statute, combined with the total of all General Fund reserves that are authorized by the State for that fiscal year, together with any deficit in the General Fund remaining from the preceding fiscal year, are projected to exceed the total of all revenues and other resources, including reserves for prior years, that are estimated to be available to the State for General Fund purposes for that fiscal year.
(3) The Legislature shall enact for each fiscal year one or more bills that, in the aggregate, both identify the conditions under which the Governor shall be required for that fiscal year to implement the budget adjustment plan and, in the event of the occurrence of those conditions, make any changes in law that are necessary to the implementation of that plan. The budget adjustment plan for any fiscal year shall not become operative prior to the operative date of the bill or bills enacted for that fiscal year pursuant to this paragraph.
(4) The bill or bills enacted for any fiscal year pursuant to paragraph (3) shall go into effect immediately upon enactment, and, notwithstanding subdivision (d), are exempt from the two-thirds vote requirement set forth in that subdivision, but are not exempt from the two-thirds vote requirement set forth in Section 3 of Article XIII A.
(h) A statute enacting a budget shall go into effect immediately upon its enactment, but shall not become operative prior to the operative date of the bill or bills enacted for that fiscal year pursuant to paragraph (3) of subdivision (g).
(i) Notwithstanding Sections 4 and 8 of Article III and Section IV of this article, in any year in which the budget is not enacted by midnight on June 30, the Governor and each Member of the Legislature shall forfeit any salary or reimbursement for travel and living expenses for the period from midnight on June 30 until the day preceding the date the budget bill is enacted. No forfeited salary or travel and living expenses shall be paid retroactively.

SECTION 6. INDEBTEDNESS.
That Section 1.2 is added to Article XVI to read:
SEC 1.2 Except as to any indebtedness approved by the voters pursuant to Section 1, the Legislature shall not in any manner create in any fiscal year any debt or debts, or liability or liabilities, unless the debt or debts, or liabilities or liabilities, are repaid during that same fiscal year. For purposes of this section, �debt or debts, or liability or liabilities� includes an obligation for which an appropriation is made from anticipated funds, but does not include borrowing between state funds.

SECTION 7. SEVERABILITY
In the event that any portion of this amendment or the application thereof to any person or circumstance is held invalid, that invalidity shall not effect any other provision or application of the initiative, which can be given effect without the invalid provision or application, and to that end the provisions of this amendment are severable.