Thanks to Irwin Parent from Palm Springs

The 2013-2014 California legislative session begins December 3, 2012, with the swearing in of the new legislators. 40 new legislators are coming to Sacramento to join 80 veterans. While the session officially begins on that date, typically activity does not pick up until January. Until then there will be behind the scenes discussions about potential legislative bills. The real action begins after the bill introduction deadline in mid-February. Up to 3,000 bills will be introduced by then, the majority of which will be submitted at the last minute. Then your lobbyist and Public Policy team move into high gear to review and assess each piece of introduced legislation as to relevancy to AAUW California interests and priorities.

AAUW’s Public Policy Committee will meet on March 22nd and 23rd to discuss the slate of bills, and come to a consensus as to what position AAUW-CA should take, and suggest needed amendments. By mid-March, the legislative policy committees will be scheduling hearings of these bills, and it is critical that AAUW-CA be able to register our position, as soon as possible, to have the best opportunity to have our position and our comments make a difference. For critical bills where the Legislature needs to hear from AAUW California members, Action Alerts will be utilized.

The 2013 Legislative year will end on Friday, September 13th. The session will reconvene in 2014. The 2013 Legislative year will be watched carefully. With the new 2/3 Democratic majority legislature and their new found ability to unilaterally take action on everything from raising revenues to granting legislative rule waivers, plus changes in term limits, this is new territory.