“Trailer bills” are legislation passed to ease implementation of the budget, such as bills to suspend cost-of-living increases or raise taxes or other revenues. But because they are numerous and voluminous, trailer bills are also convenient vehicles to slip in language that might not otherwise survive the legislative process.
So it comes to pass that buried within one of the dozen or so trailer bills, on page 57 of the 133-page AB 1389, is a provision that repeals the designation of the Business, Transportation and Housing Agency to be “the primary state agency responsible for facilitating economic development in the state.”
This bureaucratic face-slap may be of little consequence, except to note that the Legislature has been singularly unsupportive of state economic development leadership, having abolished the Trade and Commerce Agency earlier this decade after less than ten years in existence. (Disclosure: I was an official in the original Trade and Commerce Agency.) California has been struggling ever since to create a unified, effective voice on economic development. Removing that leadership designation from a member of the Governor’s cabinet certainly sends a discouraging signal, and may indicate even more dysfunction below the surface.