The California legislative session runs on a two-year biennial cycle that opens on the first Monday in December of each even-numbered year and adjourns sine die at midnight on November 30 two years later. The current 2025–2026 session is in its second and final year, working against a calendar of hard deadlines that determine which bills survive and which die. Understanding the cycle, its deadlines, and the path a bill travels is the key to following what the Legislature does.
The Two-Year Cycle
Each session is identified by the years it spans. Newly elected legislators are sworn in and the session formally opens in December after a general election, though the real work begins in January of the odd-numbered year.1Georgetown Law Library. California Legislative Process The first year is devoted to introducing bills and moving them through committees and floor votes. The Legislature then recesses for interim study from mid-September until January. Bills that haven’t finished the process carry into the second year, when the pace accelerates toward final adjournment.2UCLA Law Library. California Legislative Process Research Guide
The Legislature observes several scheduled recesses over the cycle: a spring recess around Easter, a summer recess in July or August (which cannot begin until the budget bill has passed), the long interim study recess between the two years, and a final recess from September 1 through adjournment in the second year.3Capitol Weekly. Recesses, Interim Study, and the California Legislature
2026 Deadlines
The Joint Rules set the deadlines that drive the calendar. For 2026, the second year of the current session, the major dates are:4California State Senate. Legislative Deadlines
- February 20: last day to introduce new bills.
- April 24: last day for policy committees to hear and report fiscal bills from their house of origin.
- May 1: last day for policy committees to hear and report non-fiscal bills from their house of origin.
- May 15: last day for fiscal committees to hear and report bills from their house of origin.
- May 29: house of origin deadline — last day for each house to pass its own non-urgency bills.
- June 15: constitutional deadline to pass the budget bill.
- July 2: last day for policy committees to meet before summer recess.
- August 3: Legislature reconvenes.
- August 31: last day for each house to pass bills; final recess begins.
- September 30: last day for the Governor to sign or veto bills passed before September 1.
- November 30: session ends at midnight.
How a Bill Becomes Law
Any senator or Assembly member can author a bill. The idea goes to the nonpartisan Office of Legislative Counsel, which drafts it into proper legislative language; every measure must be in “Legislative Counsel form” before it can be introduced.5Capitol Weekly. Legislative Counsel: A Tale of the Bill Drafter Once introduced, the bill is assigned a number, read for the first time, and referred to a policy committee by the house’s Rules Committee.6California State Senate. The Legislative Process
The bill must wait at least 30 days after introduction before it can be heard in committee, and the hearing must be noticed in the Daily File at least four days in advance. At the hearing, the author presents the bill, witnesses testify for and against, and members vote. A bill with fiscal impact then goes to the Appropriations Committee for cost analysis before it can reach the floor.
On the floor, the bill is read a second time, potentially amended, then presented for a third reading and final vote. Most bills need a simple majority: 41 votes in the Assembly, 21 in the Senate. Urgency measures and tax increases need a two-thirds supermajority: 54 in the Assembly and 27 in the Senate.7Capitol Museum. Life Cycle of a Bill After passing one house, the bill repeats the entire committee-and-floor process in the other. If the second house amends it, the bill returns to the house of origin for concurrence. Formal conference committees, though provided for in the rules, are largely nonexistent in modern practice.8Capitol Weekly. Using Conference Committees May Improve the Legislative Process
Once a bill clears both houses, the Governor has 12 days (excluding Sundays) to sign, veto, or let it become law without a signature. For bills passed before September 1 and in the Governor’s possession on or after that date, the deadline to act is September 30.9Capitol Weekly. Governor’s Deadline to Act on Bills Signed bills are filed with the Secretary of State and assigned a chapter number. Most take effect the following January 1. Urgency statutes and budget-related appropriations take effect immediately.10California Budget Center. How California Policies Are Made: Legislative Process Highlights
Committees and the Suspense File
Committees are where most substantive work happens. The Senate has more than 20 standing policy committees; the Assembly has more than 30. Each covers a specific subject like health, education, or public safety. Bills that clear their policy committee and carry a significant price tag move to the Appropriations Committee in each house.
Appropriations operates a mechanism called the suspense file. Bills exceeding a cost threshold — $50,000 from the General Fund or $150,000 from a special fund in the Senate, and $150,000 in the Assembly — are placed on the file for additional scrutiny.11California State Senate. Senate Appropriations Committee FAQs Twice a year, the committees hold hearings where the fate of these bills is announced in rapid succession. Decisions on which bills advance and which die are effectively made in advance, giving the Appropriations chairs considerable influence over the agenda.12CalMatters. Suspense File: Senate and Assembly In the current session, Senate Appropriations is chaired by Sen. Sabrina Cervantes, and Assembly Appropriations by Buffy Wicks.
Bill Introduction Limits and Spot Bills
Starting with the 2025–2026 session, members of both chambers are limited to introducing 35 bills per two-year session, down from 50 in the Assembly and 40 in the Senate. Legislators can request a waiver to exceed the cap.13CalMatters. California Assembly Bill Limit
One common workaround for the introduction deadline is the spot bill: a placeholder measure that makes only a trivial change to existing law, like altering a comma or swapping a pronoun. Introducing a spot bill before the February deadline reserves a bill number that can later be amended with substantive content.14Loyola Law School Library. Spot Bills and Gut-and-Amend Neither house’s Rules Committee will refer a spot bill to a policy committee until it receives substantive amendments.15Capitol Weekly. Bills Used in the California Legislature
Urgency Statutes
An urgency statute takes effect immediately upon signing rather than waiting until January 1. The bill must include a statement of facts explaining why the measure is “necessary for immediate preservation of the public peace, health, or safety,” and both that statement and the bill itself must pass by a two-thirds vote in each house.16Justia. California Constitution, Article IV, Section 8
Constitutional Amendments
Proposed amendments to the state constitution also require a two-thirds vote of each house, but they do not go to the Governor. They go directly to voters for approval at a statewide election.10California Budget Center. How California Policies Are Made: Legislative Process Highlights
The Budget Process
The annual budget follows its own timeline within the session. The Governor submits a proposed budget in January, releases a May Revision in mid-May reflecting updated revenue forecasts, and the Legislature faces a constitutional deadline of June 15 to pass a balanced budget. That deadline is enforced by the rule that lawmakers forfeit their pay for every day they miss it.17CalMatters. California Budget Legislature Deal The new fiscal year begins July 1.
Alongside the main budget bill, the Legislature passes trailer bills — separate pieces of legislation that make the statutory changes needed to implement the budget. Trailer bills bypass the normal committee deadlines and fiscal committee review that apply to other legislation. They can take effect immediately with a majority vote as long as they contain an appropriation related to the budget and are identified by number in the budget bill itself.18Capitol Weekly. California’s Budget Process: Questions and Answers That makes trailer bills a powerful vehicle for policy changes that might face a harder road through the regular process.
Special Sessions
The Governor can convene the Legislature for a special or extraordinary session outside the regular cycle to address specific issues. The Governor’s proclamation defines what topics the Legislature can take up, and the Rules Committees decide whether individual bills fall within scope.19Capitol Weekly. What You Should Know About California Special Sessions Bills introduced in a special session are designated with an “X” — for example, ABX1 1 for Assembly Bill 1 of the First Extraordinary Session.
Special session bills are exempt from the 30-day waiting period after introduction and from the regular session’s committee deadlines, though they still must comply with the 72-hour rule requiring publication before a vote.20California Budget Center. Understanding Special Sessions in California Unless an urgency clause is attached, special session bills take effect on the 91st day after the special session adjourns. If the Legislature never formally adjourns a special session, it automatically ends at midnight on November 30 of the even-numbered year, along with the regular session.
Party Composition and Chamber Leadership
Democrats hold supermajorities in both chambers, a position they have held since 2012. The Senate has 31 Democrats and 9 Republicans; the Assembly has 62 Democrats and 18 Republicans.21CalMatters. California Senate and Assembly Election Results Those margins comfortably exceed the two-thirds threshold needed to pass urgency measures, tax increases, and constitutional amendments without Republican support.
The Assembly is led by Speaker Robert Rivas of Salinas. The Senate is led by President pro Tempore Monique Limón of Santa Barbara, selected in November 2025 and sworn in on January 5, 2026 as the 50th person to hold that position. She succeeded Mike McGuire, who was designated President Pro Tempore Emeritus.22California Association of Area Agencies on Aging. New Leadership Takes Shape in the California State Senate
Veto and Override
The Legislature can override a gubernatorial veto with a two-thirds vote in each house, but that power is essentially dormant. The last successful override was in 1979–80, during Governor Jerry Brown’s first term, when the Legislature overrode vetoes on two bills and eight budget items.23California State Senate Office of Research. Governor’s Veto Record In the decades since, more than 8,700 vetoes have gone unchallenged.24The American Prospect. The Missing Veto Override in California
The reasons are more political than procedural. Legislators avoid picking fights with a governor who controls appointments and whose cooperation they need on other priorities. Some prefer to let the governor take the political heat for killing controversial bills rather than voting the bills down themselves. The compressed end-of-session calendar also leaves little time to organize an override before adjournment.25CalMatters. California Veto Overrides
How the Public Can Participate
All committee hearings are open to the public and streamed live on the Legislature’s website. You can testify on a bill by notifying the author in advance and preparing concise remarks for the hearing.26California State Senate. The Legislative Process: A Citizen’s Guide to Participation Written position letters sent to committees are summarized in the official bill analyses legislators review before voting. Anyone paid to advocate before the Legislature — commonly called a lobbyist, formally a Legislative Advocate — must register with the Secretary of State. Bill text, hearing schedules, committee analyses, and vote records are all available at leginfo.legislature.ca.gov.