Let Your Voice Stand Out
Assembly and Senate committees meet in rooms similar to the one shown. Both the Assembly and Senate have many different standing committees that focus on specific subject areas, from Agriculture to Veterans Affairs. The number of committees varies from session to session, but there are approximately 33 in the Assembly and 22 in the Senate.
Several rooms in the Capitol building serve as designated meeting places for the Legislature’s numerous committees. Both the Assembly and the Senate have standing committees that focus on specific subject areas like education or transportation. While the number of committees can vary from session to session, there are approximately 33 in the Assembly and 22 in the Senate.
With more than 6,000 bills under consideration in any single legislative session, committees are an essential part of the state government. No single Legislator could analyze every bill, or piece of legislation, that passes through the Assembly or Senate. The committee system was created to separate bills by subject and ensure a manageable workload for the Legislature. Committee hearings also provide a forum for Legislators, the public, and subject-area specialists to analyze and debate bills before they move onto the Assembly and Senate floors.
Every bill passes through one or more committees in each House. The committees of the House from which a bill originated are always the first to hear it. The bill will eventually have passed through at least one Senate Committee and one Assembly Committee.
In the Assembly, the Speaker assigns Assembly Members to committees and selects the chairperson for each. In the Senate, the Senate Rules Committee assumes these assignment responsibilities. These officers select committee members based on their areas of expertise to ensure that every bill is thoroughly examined.
All committee hearings are open to the public, and anyone can testify on behalf of or against a proposed bill. The schedule for committee hearings appears in the Daily File at least four days prior to the hearing of the first committee and at least two days prior to subsequent hearings. The Daily File for the Senate can be found online at https://www.senate.ca.gov/dailyfile, and for the Assembly at https://www.assembly.ca.gov/schedules-publications/assembly-daily-file.
Once a committee concludes its deliberations, committee members vote on the bill. If the bill passes, it goes to the floor of the Assembly or Senate for a second reading. If the bill does not pass, it is “held in committee.” Alternatively, the author of the bill can choose to rewrite it and restart the process from the beginning in the next session.
