Overview

The 2007-08 legislative session will have ended with four special sessions having been called: 1st Extraordinary Session relative to health care reform; 2nd Extraordinary Session relative to water resources; 3rd Extraordinary Session relative to the 2007-08 State Budget shortfall; and the 4th Extraordinary Session relative to the 2008-09 Budget shortfall. In 2008, the Governor signed 772 bills into law and vetoed 415 bills. The reason for the large number of vetoed bills was due to the delay in the passage of the 2008-09 Budget. The State Budget did not get signed into law until August 23, 2008. Both houses of the Legislature passed regular bills during the budget delay in August but held back on sending them to the Governor until the budget was done because the Governor indicated he would veto any other legislation which did not relate to the budget. The Governor had until September 30 to sign and veto legislation. But due to the lateness of many of the bills reaching the Governor, some bills which probably could have been considered noncontroversial received the following gubernatorial veto message: “The historic delay in passing the 2008-2009 State Budget has forced me to prioritize the bills sent to my desk at the end of the year’s legislation session. Given the delay, I am only signing bills that are the highest priority for California.”