California may be in uncharted territory, as one chamber controlled by the same party as the governor is so far refusing to show up for a special legislative session.
“It’s Schrödinger’s special session,” said Keith Smith, who teaches political science at the University of the Pacific. “It all depends on how you look at it.”
Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) is working to resolve the unprecedented standoff with the state Senate’s Democratic leader over legislation designed to help keep down gas prices. Senate President Pro Tem Mike McGuire (D) refused to call members to participate after the governor insisted on a special session to pass the measure.
The two officials met Tuesday night to resolve their differences, Newsom said at a Wednesday press conference.
“We’re going to get this done,” he said.
McGuire issued a statement that said the two officials would “continue to work collaboratively and we’ll have more to share soon.”
The political standoff has its roots in the Democratic-led legislature’s frustration with what they complain is Newsom’s strategy of jamming lawmakers, by pushing legislation at the 11th hour and then threatening special sessions to squeeze the statehouse into passing the bills.
Newsom’s office said the governor and legislature had been working for months on the legislation.
“This is a risky confrontation, but I think that shows just how much each house is willing to risk to make this strong point about the policy and political process that they’d like to see followed,” said Thad Kousser, who teaches political science at the University of California San Diego. “And they’d like to see themselves be viewed as a co-equal branch.”
Caught in the middle is legislation that would address high gas prices by requiring California petroleum refiners to maintain sufficient reserves to ensure no price swings when operations are halted for maintenance.
Under the bill, unveiled by Assembly Speaker Robert Rivas (D) on Tuesday, the California Energy Commission would be authorized to monitor refiners to ensure that they maintain adequate reserves. The commission could only adopt these regulations if it determined that they would lead to lower average retail prices, increase the fuel supply, and reduce the price volatility at the pumps for consumers.
Newsom first proposed the bill three weeks ago. It was later loosely packaged with other energy bills in the the session’s final days in hopes of winning support. Then came the threat of a special session.
The package ultimately did not move forward “and, as you know, that primarily was the direction of the speaker and the Assembly,” Newsom said.
Just after Newsom had first threatened a special session, Rivas signaled that the votes might not be there to pass the bill before the end of the regular session on Aug. 31 and revealed frustration at being jammed by the governor’s last-minute push.
“If the Governor calls a special session, we’re going to do the work and deliver results,” Rivas said in an Aug. 30 statement. “What I’m not going to do is push through bills that haven’t been sufficiently vetted with public hearings. Doing so could lead to unintended consequences on Californians’ pocketbooks.” The Assembly then showed up for the special session.
McGuire did not go along. After the special session was called, McGuire said the Senate would not participate in the special session for proposals that had been discussed for months.
California Attorney General Rob Bonta (D), who also appeared at the press conference Wednesday, declined to answer when asked what recourse the governor has to force the Senate back into session.
Kousser said doing so would make a bad situation worse.
“If it comes to the courts or calling on the sergeant-at-arms to pull in legislators, then no one’s winning this fight,” Kousser said.