DOF begins posting proposed trailer bills

Advocates, press, & staff should treat trailer bill and BCP proposals just like other bills

The Department of Finance (DOF) began posting proposed statutory language to implement the Governor’s 2024-25 budget proposals on its website today here. These proposals are more commonly known as “trailer bills.”

Section 13308(b) of the Government Code requires Finance to provide all proposed trailer bills “as prepared by the Legislative Counsel, that are necessary to implement the Governor’s Budget,” on or before February 1 each year, but in practice, new or amended trailer bill items often are posted there over the course of the next several weeks after February 1. (DOF’s trailer bill tracking sheet [“2024-25 Budget TBL Tracking”] on the webpage can be a useful tool for tracking past and upcoming postings.)

In California, budget actions have always involved statutory changes to one degree or another. The current trailer bill process for the Legislature began in earnest in the early 1980s, primarily to implement social services budget cuts, and morphed in response to subsequent court decisions on the single subject rule, including the California Supreme Court decision in Harbor v. Deukmejian (1987) 43 Cal.3d 1078. In 2010, Proposition 25 formalized budget trailer bills in the California Constitution, giving the Legislature broad authority to designate bills that are “related to the budget.”

Advocates, Press, and Staff: Treat Administration Budget Proposals Like Other Bill Proposals

History suggests that most 2024 trailer bill items will be posted in some form on the DOF website in the coming weeks or soon after the May Revision. The vast majority of trailer bill content is posted weeks or months in advance of enactment, mostly on this DOF website. Advocates, media, and the rest of the legislative community, therefore, should review and act on all administration trailer bill proposals and all budget change proposals as if they are regular bills in the legislative process. Express your views to budget subcommittees, legislators, and the Governor. Dig in, and research the proposals. Watch budget hearings, and participate. Considerable effort has been taken to make the budget process more transparent in the last decade, so take advantage of it. Note that, in some cases, administration trailer bill proposals are top priorities of the Governor.

In some cases, legislators introduce “policy bills” with content similar to that in proposed trailer bills. This can give Senators or Assemblymembers the chance to consider a bill in the policy committee process at the same time that budget subcommmittees are operating in the spring. At the time of budget enactment in the summer, such bills, as amended, can either be incorporated into a trailer bill as part of the budget package, continue as a policy bill, or not adopted by either process. In other cases, in recent years, proposed trailer bills have been moved out of the budget process to be incorporated in policy bills.