Misconception Monday – Miscellaneous Items

Today’s post is the final one in my Misconception Monday series. In today’s podcast, we will be covering the grab bag of remaining misconceptions related to California government and the California Legislature. You can find all my Misconception Monday podcasts, including this one, here.

Today’s first misconception is that constitutional office appointments require confirmation only by the State Senate, which has the power of advice and consent on gubernatorial appointments. For nominees to any of the state constitutional offices, those individuals must be confirmed by both the Assembly and the Senate.

Another misconception is that committee jurisdictions are the same in both houses. As an example, if I had an insurance bill, the incorrect assumption would be that if my bill was referred to the Senate Insurance Committee it will then be referred to the Assembly Insurance Committee. There are 32 Assembly committees and 22 Senate committees. Not all Senate bills in the insurance area are in fact referred to the Assembly Insurance Committee, and vice versa. One example, say my insurance bill is a workers compensation insurance bill. In the Assembly, it would go to the Insurance Committee, but in the Senate, that bill would go to the Committee on Labor and Industrial Relations.

A third misconception, one that seems relevant in an election year, is that the California Legislature and the people, through the initiative process, can make the same sorts of statutory changes. While it is true that the people can make changes to statute or the California Constitution via the initiative process, the Legislature can only put forth constitutional amendments. That is because they already pass bills and those bills make statutes. The one exception is a bond measure.

A bond measure is placed on the ballot by a bill that’s been passed by the Legislature and signed by the Governor. The voters must then approve the bond measure.

There are many more misconceptions that I cover in today’s podcast. I hope you’ve enjoyed this podcast, and my Misconception Monday series.