Welcome to the California Senate Online A wealth of legislative information is available on the California Senate’s website at senate.ca.gov. Learn about legislation and committee hearings, communicate your views to your elected representatives, or live stream Senate events from your computer, tablet, or smartphone. This brochure provides an overview of what’s available and how to access that information. Senate Home Page On the Senate home page you will find information about visiting the State Capitol, committee hearings, and Floor Sessions scheduled for that day, along with information about the Senate. You can register to vote, access California law, look up current legislation, and review reports by the Senate Office of Research. Senators Information about each of the 40 State Senators is available from the home page. On each Senator’s page you will find: ⊲ Capitol & District contact information ⊲ Senator’s biography ⊲ Legislation authored by the Senator ⊲ Committee membership & more… Click on senators for information about your Senator. If you don’t know who your Senator is, click on find my senator. Click on senators for information about your Senator. If you don’t know who your Senator is, click on find my senator. Legislation Information about legislation and current California codes is also available on the Senate website. Click on Find legislation to search for bills by number or keyword. For each bill you will find: ⊲ Text complete text of bills with annotations to identify material added or deleted due to amendments ⊲ History chronological listing of legislative activity for each bill (where the bill was heard, if amended, approved, etc.) ⊲ Status current location of bill and pending action ⊲ Bill Analyses describes the history and impact of the legislation and arguments supporting and opposing the bill ⊲ Votes record of how Members voted in committee and before the Senate and Assembly ⊲ Vetoes text of Governor’s veto messages ⊲ california codes complete list of current codes By registering, you can subscribe to track bills. For every bill to which you subscribe, the bill information and any updates will be automatically emailed to you. Committees Policy committee hearings are the forums for public input, and the best place to communicate concerns about proposed legislation. Bills are heard in standing committees, which meet regularly throughout the year. Some standing committees have subcommittees that focus in more depth on specific issues. select and special committees study California policy issues to develop longer-range solutions. joint committees, made up of members from both houses, consider issues of joint concern. Click on committees to find: ⊲ Senate committees ⊲ Standing Committees hear bills and meet on a regular basis throughout the year ⊲ SubCommittees a number of standing committees have subcommittees that focus in more depth on specific issues ⊲ Select Committees study California policy issues in order to develop longer-range solutions ⊲ Joint Committees Members from both houses consider issues of joint concern ⊲ Membership/staff ⊲ Meeting schedules ⊲ Policy jurisdiction ⊲ Reports & publications Calendar & Publications Before a bill becomes law, it must be approved by the appropriate committees in both the Senate and Assembly. During this process, there is time to express your opinions and influence legislation. Click on CALENDAR to find: ⊲ Today’s Senate Events Senate Floor Sessions and/or committees meeting that day ⊲ Senate Schedule legislative deadlines, Floor Sessions, committee hearings, and Senate recess ⊲ Legislative Calendar & Deadlines key deadlines for the current two-year legislative session, last day to introduce bills, when bills must move out of committee, last day for the Governor to sign or veto bills, etc. ⊲ ADD calendar events to your personal calendar Click on PUBLICATIONS to find: ⊲ Senate DAILY FILE bills scheduled to be heard in committee or before the entire Senate that day ⊲ Senate daily Journal proceedings of the Senate, including how Senators voted ⊲ Senate Histories daily and weekly publications including bill histories, a table of daily introductions and dispositions of Senate measures Offices & Caucuses More information is available to the public from various Senate offices and legislative caucuses. offices ⊲ Office of Research ⊲ Office of Demographics ⊲ Office of Floor Analyses ⊲ office of international relations ⊲ more... caucuses ⊲ democratic caucus ⊲ rePUBLICan caucus ⊲ more... Media Listen to or watch the Senate live online and on television. You’ll find committee hearings, Floor Sessions, and press conferences. The California Channel provides viewers with daily gavel-to-gavel coverage of state legislative proceedings. Click MEDIA to find: ⊲ TV Schedule to view a list of programs covered during that week ⊲ MEDIA ARCHIVE to listen to past Senate committee hearings, Floor Sessions, and press conferences ⊲ Video Dubs to order video recordings of Senate Floor Sessions and committee hearings Archive Page Information about former State Senators and past Senate Committees can be found on the archive page. The Member Archives page lists all Senators that held office starting with the 2013-14 Legislative Session, and includes the link to that Member's web page. If a Senator is still a current member of the legislature, you will be directed to their website. The Member Archives page also provides a listing of all Senate Members and Officers dating back to 1849. The Committee Archives page lists the names of the Standing, Select, Sub, and Joint Committees of the Senate starting with the 2013-14 Legislative Session and includes a link to each committee’s web page. Click ARCHIVE to find: ⊲ MEMBER ARCHIVES ⊲ COMMITTEE ARCHIVES Citizens Guide Use this helpful information to learn about the legislative process and to get involved. Click on: ⊲ Legislative PROCESS ⊲ BUDGET PROCESS ⊲ CALIFORNIA CONSTITUTION ⊲ SENATE, ASSEMBLY, AND JOINT RULES ⊲ FAQs ⊲ MORE... Senator Scott Wiener 11th senate district capitol office State Capitol, Room 4066 Sacramento, CA 95814 tel (916) 651-4011 • fax (916) 651-4911 district office 455 Golden Gate Avenue, Suite 14800 San Francisco, CA 94102 tel (415) 557-1300 senator.wiener@senate.ca.gov www.senate.ca.gov/wiener brochure printed in house by Senate Reprographics