Senate Appropriations committee sends one bill to the floor; dozens moved to suspense file

The California Senate Committee on Appropriations, meeting in Room 2200 of the 0 Street Building for its final regular-order hearing, moved one measure, AB 1142, directly to the Senate floor and placed the remaining measures on the committee's suspense file without objection.

The chair opened the hearing saying there were 26 bills on the agenda and that one measure — AB 1142, by Assemblymember Hoover — would not be heard and "will move directly to the floor pursuant to Senate rule 828.8." For the other items, the committee took fiscal-only public testimony and, after brief remarks from sponsors and the Department of Finance in many cases, the chair repeatedly concluded, "This is a suspense file candidate; without objection, AB [number] will move to suspense." Those actions were taken for each measure on the agenda.

Why it matters: placement on the suspense file means the committee is deferring fiscal decisions on these bills until later in the budget or legislative process; forwarding a bill to the floor sends it on for consideration by the full Senate without further Appropriations Committee action.

What supporters and critics said: Several sponsors provided brief fiscal comments while the…