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49-428: Many school buildings had completely collapsed due to unreinforced masonry construction and/or shoddy workmanship. The earthquake occurred at 5:55   pm on a Friday, several hours after school had let out. Had the earthquake occurred while school was in session earlier that afternoon, thousands of casualties, mainly children, would have likely occurred. Public awareness of this narrowly averted tragedy led to passage of

98-824: A Legislative Council prior to joining Canada , as did Ontario when it was Upper Canada and Quebec from 1791 (as Lower Canada ) to 1968. Nebraska is the only state in the United States with a unicameral legislature, having abolished its lower house in 1934, while the Senate of Nebraska , the upper house prior to 1934, continues to assemble. The Australian state of Queensland also once had an appointed Legislative Council before abolishing it in 1922. All other Australian states continue to have bicameral systems, though all members are now directly elected (the two self-governing territories, along with Norfolk Island until 2016, have always been unicameral). Like Queensland,

147-462: A bill so that it does not fit within the legislative schedule, or until a general election produces a new lower house that no longer wishes to proceed with the bill. Nevertheless, some states have long retained powerful upper houses. For example, the consent of the upper house to legislation may be necessary (though, as noted above, this seldom extends to budgetary measures). Constitutional arrangements of states with powerful upper houses usually include

196-695: A brief period from 1995 to 1996, the Assembly has been in Democratic hands since the 1970 election. The Senate has been under Democratic control since 1970, except for a brief period from 1973 to 1975. Article IV of the 1849 California Constitution prescribed that the legislative power of the state is invested in an Assembly and a Senate which was to be designated as the Legislature of the State of California. Sessions were required to be annual and began on

245-407: A means to resolve situations where the two houses are at odds with each other. In recent times, parliamentary systems have tended to weaken the powers of upper houses relative to their lower counterparts. Some upper houses have been fully abolished; others have had their powers reduced by constitutional or legislative amendments. Also, conventions often exist that the upper house ought not to obstruct

294-741: A result, the first and second Greene Acts (named for their author, State Senator Leroy F. Greene ), were passed in 1967 and 1968 respectively to set inspection deadline for school districts. The 1971 San Fernando earthquake spurred the State Legislature to provide additional funding to retrofit older buildings. As of 2010, the Field Act currently applies to the design, construction and renovation of all K–12 school buildings and community college buildings in California. Although there have been attempts to make private schools comply with

343-424: A statement of intent and evidence that the statement actually reflected the views of several of the legislators who voted for the bill (as opposed to just one). The most sought-after legislative committee appointments are to governance and finance, business and professions, and health. These are sometimes called "juice" committees, because membership in these committees often aids the campaign fundraising efforts of

392-650: Is sometimes seen as having a special role of safeguarding the uncodified Constitution of the United Kingdom and important civil liberties against ill-considered change. The House of Lords has a number of ways to block legislation and to reject it; however, the House of Commons can eventually use the Parliament Act to force something through. The Commons will often accept amendments passed by the Lords; however,

441-796: Is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of California , consisting of the California State Assembly ( lower house with 80 members) and the California State Senate ( upper house with 40 members). Both houses of the Legislature convene at the California State Capitol in Sacramento . The California State Legislature is one of ten full-time state legislatures in the United States . The houses are distinguished by

490-642: Is the British House of Lords . Under the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 , the House of Lords can no longer prevent the passage of most bills, but it must be given an opportunity to debate them and propose amendments, and can thereby delay the passage of a bill with which it disagrees. Bills can only be delayed for up to one year before the Commons can use the Parliament Act, although economic bills can only be delayed for one month. The House of Lords

539-517: The German state of Bavaria had an appointed second chamber, the Senate of Bavaria , from 1946 to 1999. The Senate of the Philippines was abolished – and restored – twice: from 1935 to 1945 when a unicameral National Assembly convened, and from 1972 to 1987 when Congress was closed, and later a new constitution was approved instituting a unicameral Parliament. The Senate was re-instituted with

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588-475: The lower house . The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted power than the lower house. A legislature composed of only one house (and which therefore has neither an upper house nor a lower house) is described as unicameral . An upper house is usually different from the lower house in at least one of the following respects (though they vary among jurisdictions): Powers: Status: In parliamentary systems

637-449: The "several counties and districts" according to the white population of said areas. Section 25 imposed a single-subject rule on legislative bills, Section 26 prohibited the legislature from granting a divorce , Section 31 prohibited the legislature from establishing a corporation with a special act (similar to a private bill ), Section 34 prohibited the legislature from granting a charter "for banking purposes" while Section 35 required

686-518: The 1879 Constitution explicitly stated that the Senate has 40 members and that the Assembly has 80 members. The constitution also explicitly provides that Senators terms are four years and the terms of members of the Assembly are two years. New legislators convene each new two-year session, to organize, in the Assembly and Senate chambers, respectively, at noon on the first Monday in December following

735-458: The 1990s. Since 1993, the Legislature has hosted a web or FTP site in one form or another. The current website contains the text of all statutes, all bills, the text of all versions of the bills, all the committee analyses of bills, all the votes on bills in committee or on the floor, and veto messages from the governor. Before then, committees occasionally published reports for significant bills, but most bills were not important enough to justify

784-463: The 2017–2018 session to require a vote. Across the country, pocket veto powers are not uncommon in legislatures; in Colorado, the power was notably repealed in a citizen initiative constitutional amendment in 1988 driven by various reform groups. A bill is a proposal to change, repeal, or add to existing state law . An Assembly Bill (AB) is one introduced in the Assembly; a Senate Bill (SB), in

833-530: The Act to periodically inspect the construction while underway and verify that the actual work completed is in compliance with the approved drawings. Peer review was also introduced as another quality control procedure. In 1939 the Garrison Act applied Field Act Standards to existing school buildings. The first real world test of the Field Act took place in the 1940 Imperial Valley earthquake . This earthquake

882-558: The Act within 30 days of the quake by the California State Legislature . The Act was named after California Assemblyman Charles Field, the key sponsor of the legislation. The act was based on the research done by San Diego architect Louis John Gill , then president of the California State Board of Architectural Examiners, who traveled to the stricken area within hours of the quake and analyzed

931-498: The Assembly are elected from 80 districts and serve two-year terms . All 80 Assembly seats are subject to election every two years. Members of the Senate are elected from 40 districts and serve four-year terms . Every two years, one half of the Senate (20 seats) is subject to election, with odd-numbered districts up for election during presidential elections , and even-numbered districts up for election during midterm elections . Term limits were initially established in 1990 following

980-705: The British House of Lords until 1999 and in the Japanese House of Peers until it was abolished in 1947. It is also common that the upper house consists of delegates chosen by state governments or local officials. Members of the Rajya Sabha in India are nominated by various states and union territories, while 12 of them are nominated by the President of India. Similarly, at the state level, one-third of

1029-478: The California Channel and local Public-access television cable TV . Due to the expense and the obvious political downside , California did not keep verbatim records of actual speeches made by members of the Assembly and Senate until the video feed began. As a result, reconstructing legislative intent outside of an act 's preamble is extremely difficult in California for legislation passed before

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1078-419: The Senate. Bills are designated by number, in the order of introduction in each house. For example, AB 16 refers to the 16th bill introduced in the Assembly. The numbering starts afresh each session. There may be one or more "extraordinary" sessions. The bill numbering starts again for each of these. For example, the third bill introduced in the Assembly for the second extraordinary session is ABX2 3. The name of

1127-708: The State Senate. The proceedings of the California State Legislature are briefly summarized in regularly published journals, which show votes and who proposed or withdrew what. Reports produced by California executive agencies, as well as the Legislature, were published in the Appendices to the Journals from 1849 to 1970. Since the 1990s, the legislature has provided a live video feed for its sessions, and has been broadcast state-wide on

1176-523: The Weatherill Amendment to the House of Lords Act 1999 , which preserved 92 hereditary peers in the house. Compromise and negotiation between the two houses make the Parliament Act a very rarely used backup plan. Even without a veto, an upper house may defeat legislation. Its opposition may give the lower chamber a chance to reconsider or even abandon a controversial measure. It can also delay

1225-413: The attention of any individual community representative, it would also in turn make it harder for these representatives to get the attention of their state legislators. The measure failed to acquire enough signatures to qualify as a proposition for the 2016 November elections ballot. Upper house An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature , the other chamber being

1274-504: The author, the legislator who introduced the bill, becomes part of the title of the bill. The legislative procedure , is divided into distinct stages: From December 4, 2023, members of the California State Legislature receive an annual salary of $ 128,215. The Assembly Speaker, Senate President pro tempore, and minority floor leaders receive salaries of $ 147,446. Majority floor leaders and second ranking minority leaders receive salaries of $ 137,832. As of 2023, California legislators are paid

1323-405: The broader membership. In California, as of 2019 this was governed by Senate Rule 28 which requires 21 members and Assembly Rule 96(a) which requires 41 members; the procedure was notably used in 1998. In 2019, a rule change in the Assembly allowed committee chairs to avoid considering bills, which effectively kills the proposal. A proposed amendment to the constitution (ACA-23 ) was proposed for

1372-575: The building total mass). The Act also established the Office of the State Architect (now Division of the State Architect or DSA) which developed design standards, quality control procedures, and required that schools be designed by registered architects and engineers . These professionals must submit their plans and specifications to the State Architect for review and approval prior to construction. The same professionals were also required by

1421-449: The business of government for frivolous or merely partisan reasons. These conventions have tended to harden with a passage of time. In presidential systems, the upper house is frequently given other powers to compensate for its restrictions: There are a variety of ways an upper house's members are assembled: by direct or indirect election, appointment or a mixture of these. Many upper houses are not directly elected but appointed: either by

1470-508: The colors of the carpet and trim of each house: the Senate uses red and the Assembly uses green, inspired by the United Kingdom 's House of Lords and House of Commons respectively. The Democratic Party currently holds veto-proof supermajorities in both houses of the California State Legislature. The Assembly consists of 62 Democrats and 17 Republicans , while the Senate is composed of 31 Democrats and 9 Republicans. Except for

1519-415: The committee members because powerful lobbying groups want to donate to members of these committees. The legislature can " pocket veto " laws by avoiding consideration and thus avoiding a vote. The Appropriations "Suspense File", which was created in the mid-1980s, is a popular way to avoid a vote. When a committee refuses to vote a bill out of committee, a discharge petition can typically be passed by

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1568-526: The election. After the organizational meeting, both houses are in recess until the first Monday in January, except when the first Monday is January 1 or January 1 is a Sunday, in which case they meet the following Wednesday. Aside from the recess, the legislature is in session year-round. Since California was given official statehood by the U.S. on September 9, 1850, as part of the Compromise of 1850 ,

1617-457: The expense of printing and distributing a report to archives and law libraries across the state. For bills lacking such a formal committee report, the only way to discover legislative intent is to access the state archives in Sacramento and manually review the files of relevant legislators, legislative committees, and the Governor's Office from the relevant time period, in the hope of finding

1666-410: The first Monday of the January after the previous election unless if the Governor called an extraordinary session by proclamation . The terms of Assembly members lasted for one year while the terms of Senators lasted for two years. The 1849 Constitution did not prescribe the size of either house, but it did require that the Senate was to be composed of no less than one third but no more than one half of

1715-550: The head of state, by the head of government or in some other way. This is usually intended to produce a house of experts or otherwise distinguished citizens, who would not necessarily be returned in an election. For example, members of the Senate of Canada are appointed by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister. In the past, some upper houses had seats that were entirely hereditary, such as in

1764-400: The legislature to enact a statute which prohibited any person or corporation from "..exercising the privileges of banking or creating paper to circulate as money", and Section 38 required all votes in the legislature to be conducted via voice vote. In its original form, Article IV of the 1879 California Constitution structured the legislature in a similar way to the 1849 Constitution. However,

1813-566: The members of the State Legislative Council (Vidhan Parishad) are nominated by local governments, one-third by sitting legislators, and the rest are elected by select members of the electorate. The United States Senate was chosen by state legislatures until the passage of the Seventeenth Amendment in 1913. The upper house may be directly elected but in different proportions to the lower house - for example,

1862-521: The number of members in the Assembly, with half of the Senators being up for election each year while requiring the legislature to fix the number of Senators and Assemblymembers, with there to be no less than 24 and no more than 36 members in the Assembly until the population of the state reached 100,000 residents, upon which the number of members in the Assembly was to be no less than 36 and no more than 80. Legislative districts were to be apportioned among

1911-481: The passage of Proposition 140. In June 2012, voters approved Proposition 28, which limits legislators to a maximum of 12 years, without regard to whether they serve those years in the State Assembly or the State Senate. Legislators first elected on or before June 5, 2012, are restricted by the previous term limits, approved in 1990, which limited legislators to three terms in the State Assembly and two terms in

1960-594: The provision of the Field Act, they are currently exempt. The DSA remains the primary enforcement body, and also provides limited review of university buildings, primarily for disabled access issues. Since 1940, no building constructed under the Field Act has either partially or completely collapsed, and no students have been killed or injured in a Field Act compliant building. Sources California State Legislature 38°34′36″N 121°29′36″W  /  38.576572°N 121.493411°W  / 38.576572; -121.493411 The California State Legislature

2009-533: The restoration of a bicameral Congress via a constitutional amendment in 1941, and via adoption of a new constitution in 1987. A previous government of Ireland (the 31st Dáil) promised a referendum on the abolition of its upper house , the Seanad Éireann , during the 24th Seanad session. By a narrow margin, the Irish public voted to retain it. Conservative-leaning Fine Gael and Left-leaning Sinn Féin both supported

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2058-404: The same form by both houses. Additionally, a Government must have the consent of both to remain in office, a position which is known as "perfect bicameralism" or "equal bicameralism." The role of a revising chamber is to scrutinise legislation that may have been drafted over-hastily in the lower house and to suggest amendments that the lower house may nevertheless reject if it wishes to. An example

2107-761: The second highest salary of any state. Senators receive per diem of $ 211 and Assembly members receive per diem of $ 214. The Neighborhood Legislature Reform Act In July 23, 2015, then former Republican presidential primary candidate John Cox submitted a ballot measure named "The Neighborhood Legislature Reform Act" which proposed that the Legislature's districts be subdivided into "neighborhood districts" of approximately 5000 people within each Assembly district and 10000 people within each Senate district. The representatives of these "neighborhood districts" within each district would then elect 40 Senate members and 80 Assembly members by majority vote. It has been argued that while this proposal would make it easier for citizens to get

2156-536: The senates of Australia, Brazil and the United States have a fixed number of elected members from each state, regardless of the population. Many jurisdictions once possessed upper houses but abolished them to adopt unicameral systems, including Croatia , Denmark , Estonia , Hungary , Iceland , Iran , Mauritania , New Zealand , Peru , Sweden , Turkey , Venezuela , many Indian states , Brazilian states , Canadian provinces , subnational entities such as Queensland , and some other jurisdictions. Newfoundland had

2205-516: The state capital was variously San Jose (1850–1851), Vallejo (1852–1853) and Benicia (1853–1854), until Sacramento was finally selected in 1854. The first Californian State House was originally a hotel in San Jose owned by businessman Pierre "Don Pedro" Sainsevain and his associates. The State Legislature currently meets in the California State Capitol in Sacramento. Members of

2254-411: The structural failures which had caused buildings to collapse. The Field Act was introduced with other laws that banned the construction of unreinforced masonry buildings , and required that earthquake forces be taken into account in structural design (specifically, a new requirement for a base shear calculation, and that school buildings must be able to withstand lateral forces equal to at least 3% of

2303-561: The two houses have sometimes reached a constitutional standoff. For example, when the Labour Government of 1999 tried to expel all hereditary peers from the Lords, the Lords threatened to wreck the Government's entire legislative agenda and to block every bill which was sent to the chamber. This standoff led to negotiations between Viscount Cranborne, the then Shadow Leader of the House, and the Labour Government, resulting in

2352-550: The upper house is frequently seen as an advisory or a "house of review" chamber; for this reason, its powers of direct action are often reduced in some way. Some or all of the following restrictions are often placed on upper houses: In parliamentary democracies and among European upper houses the Italian Senate is a notable exception to these general rules, in that it has the same powers as its lower counterpart: any law can be initiated in either house and must be approved in

2401-512: Was magnitude 6.9 (larger than the Long Beach earthquake) but the 16 post Field Act school buildings subjected to intense shaking suffered damage that was less than 1% of their valuation. Older pre Field Act structures in contrast suffered damaged equal to 29% of their valuation. Although the benefits of the Field Act were clearly demonstrated by this event, many districts still delayed inspecting or renovating older pre-Field Act structures. As

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