My colleagues Jim Sanders and Aurelio Rojas have compiled a long list of the notable legislation that passed through the legislative process.
All told, lawmakers approved 873 bills that have yet to be acted upon by Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has until Sept. 30 to act on them.
Of course, that assumes Schwarzenegger actually receives the bills.
Schwarzenegger has said that, barring a budget, he will veto every bill before it would become law.
So lawmakers are holding back the bills from his desk, hoping to strike a deal for a spending plan, which is now more than two months overdue.
If lawmakers hold bills past the Sept. 30 deadline, none of them would become the law of the land in 2009. But they won't necessary be dead, either:
Ed Mendel of the San Diego Union-Tribune explains:
Regular bills (not urgent) chaptered into law by Oct. 2 can take effect on Jan. 1. After that, bills signed by the governor as late as Nov. 30 may still be able to take effect -- but not until a year later, Jan. 1, 2010.
"There is a scenario where that could occur," said Dotson Wilson, the Assembly chief clerk. "At this point that has only been discussed in theory."
On the same topic, Anthony York of Capitol Weekly reports that "confusion deepens," though he reprints the relevant code sections of the state Constitution.
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