XPost: alt.politics.usa.constitution, alt.politics.elections, ca.politics XPost: sac.politics, talk.politics.guns

https://californiaglobe.com/fl/redistricting-bills-jammed-through-senate- thursday-violate-california-constitution/

Democrats violated their own attorneys’ legal advice

In 2009, Republican Sen. Jeff Denham sought to end the practice of
“polling” members ahead of a floor vote. He said “polling” violated
Senate rules.

“Polling is a practice by which the five members of the Rules Committee
are asked which way they would likely vote on a particular bill, without
the Committee actually meeting,” Capitol Weekly reported. “Denham and Republican staffers say that at least two controversial Democratic bills
were saved by polling during the last session, each when they were
nearing important deadlines. His office has obtained an opinion from the Legislative Counsel which appears to state that polling violates Senate
rules.”

The bottom line is polling in the California Legislature is not legal on
policy issues.

Flash forward to 2025, and sources inside of the State Capitol tell the
Globe that “polling” was done with the redistricting bill package.

An internal Senate memo provided to the Globe shows a request for a
“Rule Waiver Request” on AB 604, ACA 8, and SB 280, the 3-measure
package on Congressional redistricting.

https://californiaglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08 -22-at-11.16.41%E2%80%AFAM-1536x336.png

In the California Legislature, a rule waiver request is a formal request
for an exception to the Assembly, Senate, or Joint Rules during the
legislative process, requiring a vote or formal approval from the
respective house or leadership to proceed.

Ion an email exchange Monday August 18, 2025, Senate Republican Leader
Brian Jones rejected the polling request on the “major policy matter” of Redistricting.

https://californiaglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/Screenshot-2025-08 -22-at-11.22.26%E2%80%AFAM-1536x155.png

Senate Democrats didn’t want to hold hearings on the redistricting
policy issues.

SB 280 bill history shows on August 21, Senate Rule 29.10(d) was
suspended:

https://www.senate.ca.gov/sites/senate.ca.gov/files/2015-16_senate_standi ng_rules-as_amended_by_sr_8_and_sr_24.pdf

08/21/25 Senate Rule 29.10(d) suspended. (Ayes 30. Noes 9.)
29.10.(a) If the analysis, prepared in accordance with subdivision (b)
of Rule 29.8, of proposed floor amendments to a bill, other than the
Budget Bill, discloses that the amendments create a new bill or rewrite
the current form of the bill, upon adoption of the amendments the bill
shall be reprinted and referred to the Committee on Rules.

(d) If the analysis, prepared in accordance with subdivision (a) of Rule
29.8, of a bill, other than the Budget Bill, that is returned to the
Senate for a vote on concurrence discloses that the Assembly amendments
create a new bill or rewrite the bill as passed by the Senate, the bill
shall be referred to the Committee on Rules. The Committee on Rules by a
vote of a majority of its membership may either (1) refer the bill to an appropriate standing committee, (2) recommend that the bill be taken up
for consideration of the Assembly amendments, or (3) hold the bill.

ACA 8 bill history also had Senate rules suspended:

08/21/25 Joint Rule 10.5 suspended. (Ayes 30. Noes 9.)
08/21/25 Senate Rule 19 suspended. (Ayes 30. Noes 9.)
As did the bill history on AB 604:

08/21/25 Assembly Rule 63 suspended. (Ayes 55. Noes 18.)
The three-bill redistricting package should have had a Rules Committee
hearing on them, as Senator Jones requested.

Someone could take this to court as Senate Democrats violated their own
2024 legislative counsel legal opinion (below). Legislative Counsel
wrote:

“Serial polling is the act of canvassing votes of members of a
legislative body through an intermediary by means of separate
communications with each individual member when the members are not
assembled together. Proxy voting is a process by which, out of the
presence of the public, a member authorizes another person to cast a
vote on the member’s behalf.

With this context in mind, you have asked us to describe any
constitutional restrictions on use of serial polling or proxy polling by
the Senate Rules Committee to vote on matters that are subject to Senate
Rules Committee approval at a proceeding but do not qualify for a closed meeting (away from the public).

Legislative Counsel concluded:

For the foregoing reasons, if the Senate Rules Committee were to use
serial polling and proxy voting to vote on matters that are subject to
Senate Rules Committee approval at a proceeding, but do not qualify for
a closed meeting (away from the public), it is our opinion that such use
would be restricted by the requirements in the California Constitution
Article IV providing for physical presence and deliberation and open and
public meetings.

Bottom line: California Senate leaders violated the California
Constitution by jamming the three redistricting bills through without so
much as a brief Rules Committee hearing.

The three bills, AB 604, ACA 8, and SB 280, should not have come to the
Senate Floor for a vote on Thursday without a hearing of the Senate
Rules Committee.

Democrats have known for years that polling votes on policy matters is a serious violation, and they have known that Republicans have argued
against it for years, as then-senator Jeff Denham did in 2009, and
Senate Leader Jones did again in 2025 after obtaining a legal opinion
from California Legislative Counsel in 2024.

Democrats violated their own attorneys’ legal advice.

https://californiaglobe.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/OLC-to-Jones-7.12. 2024-Senate-Rules-Committee-Voting-2411374.pdf


--
November 5, 2024 - Congratulations President Donald Trump. We look
forward to America being great again.

We live in a time where intelligent people are being silenced so that
stupid people won't be offended.

Every day is an IQ test. Some pass, some, not so much.

Thank you for cleaning up the disasters of the 2008-2017, 2020-2024
Obama / Biden / Harris fiascos, President Trump.

Under Barack Obama's leadership, the United States of America became the
The World According To Garp. Obama sold out heterosexuals for Hollywood
queer liberal democrat donors.

--- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05
* Origin: fsxNet Usenet Gateway (21:1/5)