The 2016 legislative session ended in the early hours of Thursday morning, after a marathon session of farewells to outgoing legislators and last mionute scrambling over legislation. Notably, if the "three days in print" rule comes to pass via Propositon 54 this November, it may be the last year of 11th hour proposals and "mushroom bills" as they're known in the Capitol.
The final floor meetings were filled with typical bleary-eyed debates and pauses while amendments were passed between chambers, and even a brief sit in by couple Senators over campaign finance reform. There are a few thorough rundowns of the final action from the LA Times, Merc and Capitol Public Radio. Key issues adjuticated in the final hours included ride sharing rules (getting stricter), reform of the embattled CPUC (failed), Internet Poker (sorry, no) and affordable housing (also no).
Perhaps most notable for locals was the final vote on SB 1387, Senate Pro Tem De Leon's attempt to pack the South Coast Air Quality Board. This bill had been fiercely contested by locals and others since it's intorduction earlier this session, and was reminiscent of the battle against then-Speaker John Perez's 2012 attempt to disincorporate the City of Vernon. SB 1387 befell the same fate, failing badly in a vote literally the last minute of session. Trying for the second time yesterday on call, at 11:59 the final tally stood at just 30 votes in favor of the measure. The message: don't mess with local control.
The bill's sputtering also prompted an amusing spat between senior staff for the Pro Tem and Lt Governor Gavin Newsom, kicked off witht his tweet by Gavin advosr Rhys Williams:
Yikes. A senate leader's bill just belly-flopped on the Assembly floor. pic.twitter.com/uSOfmmRH7m
— Rhys Williams (@RhysDJWilliams) August 31, 2016
A back and forth ensued, though the two camps made a show of making nice by the end of the night. Here's a smattering of our other favorite tweets from last night:
Welcome to #CALeg last day. Both houses convene at 10am. Yes, #EndOfSession is near. pic.twitter.com/GG7JzGsqZZ
— John Myers (@johnmyers) August 31, 2016
So this is happening at the capitol. #EndOfSession pic.twitter.com/TnNDVgHZRD
— Jodi Hicks (@jodihicks) September 1, 2016
.@SutterBrown prepares for final #EndOfSession push pic.twitter.com/DP7i48hCmG
— Gov. Brown Press Ofc (@GovPressOffice) September 1, 2016
Time is a flat circle
— Christopher Cadelago (@ccadelago) September 1, 2016
