Rules Committee approves Joint Rule 61 waivers for a group of Senate bills

The Rules Committee of the California State Assembly approved a set of Joint Rule 61 waivers for multiple Senate bills during a short procedural meeting. The Chair called the meeting to order and asked the secretary to call the roll; the Chair opened by saying, "The rules committee is called to order," and later announced, "We have a quorum."

The Chair read the agenda items and listed Joint Rule 61 waivers for a set of Senate bills and said that "a JR 61 waiver for SB 1387 has also been added to today's agenda." A motion to approve the listed waivers was made and seconded, and the secretary conducted a roll-call vote. The transcript records the following votes: Pacheco — aye; Lackey — not voting; Dixon — not voting; Garcia — aye; Gonzales — aye; Irwin — recorded in adjacent lines as aye (the transcript contains a garbled rendering of the name); Rodriguez — aye; Sanchez — not voting; Zuber — aye. The Chair closed the meeting with, "Motion passes and rules committee is now adjourned."

The action taken was procedural: the committee approved waivers under Joint Rule 61 to permit consideration of specified Senate bills despite their having "chaptering out" amendments, as noted by the Chair. No debate, amendments, or substantive discussion of the bills' merits was recorded in the transcript; the meeting consisted of the opening, roll call, the motion, the roll-call vote, and adjournment. The motion was recorded as passing and the committee immediately adjourned.