Legislative Update: Appropriations Hearings Take Center Stage as Session Reconvenes

The Legislature returns from summer recess next week and begins the full sprint towards the end of the 2025-2026 Legislative Session. There are several important legislative deadlines before the Legislative Session ends at midnight on Monday, August 31, including the infamous “Suspense File” hearings of the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees.   

CSAC Elevates Consideration of Fiscal Impacts to Counties  

In advance of these hearings, CSAC engaged in conversations with committee staff and members and submitted letters urging the committees to consider every bill through the lens of its unique impacts on California’s local governments. 

Read CSAC’s letters to the Senate and Assembly Appropriations Committees.  

In particular, CSAC gave voice to county fiscal and workload concerns, since fiscal committee staff focus analyses on the state’s fiscal impact. CSAC staff work diligently with legislative staff, the Administration, and local government partners to help shape the bills that impact counties as they move through the legislative process.  

Role of the Appropriations Committees in August   

Friday, August 14 is the deadline for the Senate Appropriations Committee and the Assembly Appropriations Committee (collectively referred to as “the fiscal committees”) to hear and report bills with fiscal impacts to the floor of their respective houses for a vote of the full house. 

What is the “Suspense File”?  

Due to cost concerns, particularly during deficit years, many bills are held in fiscal committees by being set aside in the “suspense file.” Alternatively, fiscal bills may be significantly amended by a fiscal committee to reduce cost impacts without the consent of the bill’s author. Legislative leadership, committee chairs, and staff of the appropriations committees will consider the collective impact of Suspense File bills on the state’s finances. Then, they decide which of those bills will move forward for a vote in committee, and which will die quietly on the Suspense File.  

Tune In: Watch the Appropriations Hearings  

Both fiscal committees will convene vote-only “suspense hearings” to hear the bills on the suspense file and pass bills out of the committee and onto the floor. While the “suspense file” hearing process is designed to comprehensively consider the costs of all bills that meet a certain threshold of fiscal impact to the state, it’s also widely viewed as a tool for the Legislature to prioritize its proposals and winnow the long list of bills each house must consider on the floor prior to the end of the legislative session on Monday, August 31.  

• Senate Appropriations Committee Suspense Hearing: August 13. 
• Assembly Appropriations Committee Suspense Hearing: Not yet scheduled; expected to occur on August 12 or 13. 

Should you have any questions regarding pending legislation, please do not hesitate to contact CSAC legislative staff.