The 2019 Legislative Session concluded on September 14 and October 13 was the last day for Governor Gavin Newsom to act upon bills sent to his Desk during the final weeks of the Session. In his first year of bill actions, there were over a thousand bills that reached Governor Newsom’s Desk this year, including 740 bills acted upon during the final month.
There was a total of 1,042 bills that reached the Governor’s Desk in 2019 out of 2,625 bills introduced (Senate – 792 bills; Assembly – 1,833 bills). So, 39.7% of the bills introduced made it to the Governor’s Desk, which is about average of the past few years. As a result, 33% (45% in 2018) of the bills introduced got signed into law, while 6.5% (9% in 2018) of the bills introduced got vetoed.
Here is an overview of Governor Newsom’s final stats for his 2019 bill actions:
Total bills acted on: 1,042
Signed Bills: 870
83.5% of the bills were signed
66% of the signed bills were ABs
83% of the ABs signed were authored by Democrats
9% of the ABs signed were authored by Republicans
8% of the ABs signed were committee bills
34% of the signed bills were SBs
76% of the SBs signed were authored by Democrats
10% of the SBs signed were authored by Republicans
14% of the SBs signed were committee bills
Vetoed Bills: 172
16.5% of the bills were vetoed
71% of the vetoed bills were ABs
88.5% of the ABs vetoed were authored by Democrats
11.5% of the ABs vetoed were authored by Republicans
29% of the vetoed bills were SBs
84% of the SBs vetoed were authored by Democrats
16% of the SBs vetoed were authored by Republicans
By comparison, during the last eight years that Governor Jerry Brown served in office, he received a low of 870 bills on his Desk (his first year in office) to a high of 1,217 bills (his last year in office). His veto rate was a low of 10.7% (his third year in office) to a high of 16.5% (his last year in office).
As a final comparison, below is the same data collected above for Governor Brown’s last year of bill actions (from the 2018 Session):
Total bills acted on: 1,217
Signed Bills: 1,016
83.5% of the bills were signed
65% of the signed bills were ABs
79% of the ABs signed were authored by Democrats
14% of the ABs signed were authored by Republicans
7% of the ABs signed were committee bills
35% of the signed bills were SBs
77% of the SBs signed were authored by Democrats
13% of the SBs signed were authored by Republicans
10% of the SBs signed were committee bills
Vetoed Bills: 201
16.5% of the bills were vetoed
74% of the vetoed bills were ABs
84% of the ABs vetoed were authored by Democrats
13% of the ABs vetoed were authored by Republicans
3% of the ABs vetoed were committee bills
26% of the vetoed bills were SBs
94% of the SBs vetoed were authored by Democrats
6% of the SBs vetoed were authored by Republicans
Chris Micheli is an attorney and lobbyist for the Sacramento governmental relations firm of Aprea & Micheli, Inc. He can be reached at 916-448-3075.