Welcoming the 2025-2026 Legislative Session
December 5, 2024
On Monday, 29 newly elected Senators and Assemblymembers were sworn in during the convening of the 2025-2026 Legislative Session. By comparison, 37 lawmakers were sworn in at the beginning of the 2023-2024 Legislative Session. Consequently, we enter 2025 with a legislature composed of 120 elected officials, more than half of whom assumed office in 2023 or later. The new session also welcomes a record number of women serving in the Legislature, and a gender parity milestone for California. In 2025, 59 state lawmakers will be women, with 21 serving in the Senate and 48 in the Assembly. Women were first elected to the California Legislature in 1918, when four women were elected to serve in the 1919 legislative session.
One of the first actions by legislative leadership was to lower the allowable number of bills that can be introduced by each lawmaker. Assembly Speaker Rivas and Senate President pro Tempore McGuire agreed to lower the cap to 35 for each house, down from 50 in the Assembly and 40 in the Senate. As such, the tone of the new session is ostensibly “quality over quantity.” Nonetheless, over 130 bills, resolutions, and constitutional amendments have already been introduced as of yesterday.
Topics that are expected to dominate the conversation in the first few months of 2025 include the state’s fiscal condition and the estimated $2 billion deficit for 2025-26, implementation and impacts of the ballot measures passed in November 2024, and reactions to the incoming federal administration. However, while there is intense focus on the Newsom Administration’s posturing towards the incoming federal administration, legislative leadership has indicated that their priorities for 2025 are state-focused. Much of what Speaker Rivas and Senate President pro Tempore McGuire appear to be focused on includes affordability, with an emphasis on the cost of living, housing, and energy costs.
The next significant date to keep in mind is Monday, January 6, when the Legislature will reconvene in earnest to begin the business of governing California. CSAC looks forward to the critical work of advocating for the best interests of county governments throughout 2025. Please get in touch with the CSAC Legislative Affairs team with questions regarding specific legislation or policies.
Related webpages for further information about the 2025-2026 Legislative Session:
Concurrently, the special session marches on
As previously reported by CSAC, in early November Governor Newsom convened a special session of the state Legislature to consider the financial resources needed to prepare the state for the anticipated legal conflicts between California and the incoming federal administration. The special session convened concurrently with the regular Legislative Session on Monday, December 2. Senator Wiener and Assemblymember Gabriel, the respective chairs of each house’s budget committees, introduced legislation that would appropriate additional funding in anticipation of litigation brought by the federal government against California. ABX1-1 (Gabriel) would appropriate up to $25 million for the state for this purpose, and SBX1-1 (Wiener) would appropriate up to $35 million, $10 million of which would be for county counsels and city attorneys for similar purposes. Deliberation regarding these measures will continue in the coming weeks, with consensus from the legislature and action by the Governor expected before the presidential inauguration on January 20.
