What went wrong in the Capitol when California Republicans stalled votes from quarantine

Arguments between Republicans and Democrats in the California Senate ate up critical time in the last moments of a legislative session already interrupted three times by the coronavirus outbreak, ensuring several high profile bills on housing and police reform failed to get votes by the year’s deadline.

At one point, debate halted for 90 minutes in the Senate during a dispute over a Democratic attempt to limit the number of speakers on each bill.

Tensions boiled over, with fuming Republicans protesting the move remotely, quarantined after being exposed to a lawmaker who tested positive for the coronavirus.“So you’re just going to shut Republicans out of debate?” said Sen. Melissa Melendez, R-Lake Elsinore. “This is bull----.”

The casualties of the flap turned out to be a mix of proposals that died without votes.

They included policing bills to decertify officers with misconduct allegations and ban tear gas as crowd control. A major housing production bill that would have eased barriers to construction of duplexes, two proposals to ban single-use plastic products and several budget-related measures also didn’t come up.

The delays on the last night capped off a frustrating legislative session punctuated twice by weeks-long recesses forced by the pandemic and once more last week when a senator tested positive for the virus, leaving limited time for hearings to vet new policy proposals.

“Some of what happened today was unavoidable, and some of it was unfortunate and, frankly, unnecessary,” Senate President Pro Tem Toni Atkins, D-San Diego, during a press call after session.

The sparring didn’t end at midnight, either.

After the deadline passed, Republicans and Democrats spent nearly 40 minutes arguing over whether the final vote of the night — on a prison informant bill — was valid.

GOP legal challenges

The fallout from the dramatic close of the legislative session remains to be seen.

Republicans are threatening legal challenges over the prison informant bill, which they argue shouldn’t count after they stalled debate and raised objections as votes were tallied. Although Democrats began the vote seconds before midnight, Republicans argued it was invalid because the roll call didn’t finish until several minutes after the deadline.

The biggest flash point of the evening came earlier when Senate Democrats voted to restrict debate on bills, a rare move in the Senate where lawmakers frequently give long-winded speeches.

Democrats imposed a two-minute limit per speaker and a maximum of two speakers per side. The plan backfired.

Republicans cried foul and said Democrats were stifling their freedom of speech.

Melendez and Senate Republican leader Shannon Grove of Bakersfield tried to shout objections over Sen. Hannah-Beth Jackson, the Santa Barbara Democrat leading the floor session.

Unable to control the chaos as Republican after Republican objected, Democrats halted proceedings.

An hour and a half later, Atkins and Grove said they had a deal to scrap the time limits as long as everyone agreed to be polite and keep their comments brief.

But even with that agreement, Republicans repeatedly raised objections about the process, halting debate and votes.

The drama compounded time delays inherent in the remote voting procedure, which Atkins implemented after Sen. Brian Jones, R-Santee, announced he tested positive for the coronavirus last week.

All but one Senate Republican — Jim Nielsen of Gerber — were forced to quarantine under public health guidelines followed by the Legislature because they had been in close contact with Jones.

Atkins canceled Senate votes for one day last week to work out the logistics of remote voting, cutting one of the few remaining days to consider bills.

Once in place, the process was plagued by technical issues, as Republicans complained they had difficulty muting and unmuting themselves in the video call.

Proceedings were delayed further Monday as Republicans attempted several times to introduce amendments on bills, even though the deadline for amending bills had passed Friday.

‘We certainly didn’t run out the clock’

In the Assembly, Republicans and Democrats alike raised objections about the truncated process, arguing they did not have adequate time to review major policy proposals, including one to completely revamp the state’s juvenile justice program.

That proposal, which would shift responsibility for juvenile offenders from the state to counties, passed in the final hours of the night over local government objections and now awaits Gov. Gavin Newsom’s signature.

“The lack of transparency that we are showing the people of California here should be truly alarming to everyone in this chamber,” said Assemblyman Jay Obernolte, R-Big Bear Lake.

Obernolte was objecting to a bill that would have expanded how much of a homeowner’s equity is protected from debt collectors. It passed the Assembly late Monday. Another last minute budget-related proposal that would have expanded the California Attorney General’s power to negotiate a settlement with opioid companies, also was not brought up for votes in time.

Democrats in both houses also expressed frustration with members in the opposite house on Monday and Tuesday. Atkins said she was disappointed her housing production proposal, Senate Bill 1120, was “delineated” in the Assembly by waiting until the last hour to vote on the measure before sending it back over to her house for final approval.

“I’m disappointed the bill wasn’t taken up and gotten back over to the Senate in time for us to take it up on this floor,” Atkins said, adding that she’s been urging all year for lawmakers to cut back on the number of their bills so there would be enough time at the end of session for priority measures to be finalized.

Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon, D-Lakewood, instead said SB 1120 was a “very tough vote.”

“We certainly didn’t run out the clock,” Rendon said. “That’s nonsense.”

This story was originally published September 1, 2020 at 3:34 PM.