California State Legislature, 2019–2020 session explained

2019–2020 session of the California State Legislature
Body:	California State Legislature
State:	California
Term Start:	December 3, 2018
Term End:	November 30, 2020.
Before:	2017–2018
After:	2021–2022
Chamber1:	Senate
Membership1:	40
Control1:	Democratic
Chamber1 Leader1 Type:	President of the Senate
Chamber1 Leader1:	Gavin Newsom (D) Dec. 3, 2018 – Jan. 7, 2019 Eleni Kounalakis (D) Jan. 7, 2019 - present
Chamber1 Leader2 Type:	President pro tempore
Chamber1 Leader2:	Toni Atkins (D–39th) Dec. 3, 2018 – present
Chamber1 Leader3 Type:	Minority Leader
Chamber1 Leader3:	Patricia Bates (R–36th) Dec. 3, 2018 – Mar. 1, 2019 Shannon Grove (R–16th) Mar. 1, 2019 – present
Chamber2:	Assembly
Membership2:	80
Control2:	Democratic
Chamber2 Leader1 Type:	Speaker
Chamber2 Leader1:	Anthony Rendon (D–63rd) Dec. 3, 2018 – present
Chamber2 Leader2 Type:	Minority Leader
Chamber2 Leader2:	Marie Waldron (R–75th) Dec. 3, 2018 – present

The 2019–2020 session was a session of the California State Legislature. The session first convened on December 3, 2018 and adjourned sine die on November 30, 2020.

Major events

Vacancies and special elections

• January 7, 2019: Republican senator Ted Gaines (1st–El Dorado Hills) resigns to take a seat on the California State Board of Equalization^[1] while Democratic Senator Ricardo Lara (33rd–Bell Gardens) resigns to become California Insurance Commissioner.^[2]
• June 12, 2019: Republican assemblymember Brian Dahle and Democratic Councilwoman Lena Gonzalez (Long Beach) is sworn into office after winning June 4 special elections for the 1st Senate district to replace Gaines (Dahle) and the 33rd Senate district to replace Lara (Gonzalez).
• November 12, 2019: Republican Megan Dahle is sworn into office after winning the special election for the 1st Assembly district to replace Brian Dahle.
• October 30, 2019: Republican senator Jeff Stone (28th–La Quinta) resigns to become the Western Regional Director of the United States Department of Labor.^[3] Republican Melissa Melendez won a special election on May 12, 2020 and succeeded Stone on May 18.^[4] She resigned from California's 67th State Assembly district.

Leadership changes

• January 7, 2019: Democrat Eleni Kounalakis, a former U.S. Ambassador to Hungary, is sworn in as Lieutenant Governor (and Senate President), replacing Gavin Newsom, who termed out but was elected Governor.
• March 1, 2019: Republican senator Shannon Grove (16th–Bakersfield) replaces senator Patricia Bates (36th–Laguna Niguel) as Senate minority leader

Party changes

• January 24, 2019: Assemblymember Brian Maienschein (77th–San Diego) changed party affiliation from Republican to Democratic.^{[5] [6]}
• December 5, 2019: Assemblymember Chad Mayes (42nd–Yucca Valley) left the Republican Party to sit as an Independent.^[7]

State Senate

29	11
Democratic	Republican

Affiliation	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)		Total
	Democratic	Republican		Vacant
End of previous legislature		26	14	40	0
Begin		29	11	40	0
January 7, 2019		28	10	38	2
June 4, 2019	29	11	40	0
November 1, 2019		10	39	1
May 18, 2020		11	40	0
Latest voting share

Officers

Position		Name	Party	District
	Lieutenant Governor	Eleni Kounalakis	Democratic
	President pro tempore	Toni Atkins	Democratic	39th–San Diego
	Majority leader	Robert Hertzberg	Democratic	18th–Van Nuys
	Assistant majority leader	Mike McGuire	Democratic	2nd–Healdsburg
	Majority whip	Nancy Skinner	Democratic	9th–Berkeley
	Assistant majority whips	Maria Elena Durazo	Democratic	24th–Los Angeles
		Scott Wiener	Democratic	11th–San Francisco
	Democratic caucus chair	Connie Leyva	Democratic	20th–Chino
	Minority leader	Shannon Grove	Republican	16th–Bakersfield
Secretary		Erika Contreras
Sergeant-at-Arms		Jodie O. Barnett III
Chaplain		Sister Michelle Gorman, RSM

The Secretary, the Sergeant-at-Arms, and the chaplain are not members of the Legislature.

Members

District		Name	Party	Residence	Term-limited?	Notes
	1	Ted Gaines	Republican	El Dorado Hills		Resigned on January 7, 2019.
		Brian Dahle	Republican	Bieber		Sworn in on June 12, 2019.
	2	Mike McGuire	Democratic	Healdsburg
	3	Bill Dodd	Democratic	Napa
	4	Jim Nielsen	Republican	Red Bluff
	5	Cathleen Galgiani	Democratic	Stockton
	6	Richard Pan	Democratic	Sacramento
	7	Steve Glazer	Democratic	Orinda
	8	Andreas Borgeas	Republican	Fresno
	9	Nancy Skinner	Democratic	Berkeley
	10	Bob Wieckowski	Democratic	Fremont
	11	Scott Wiener	Democratic	San Francisco
	12	Anna Caballero	Democratic	Salinas
	13	Jerry Hill	Democratic	San Mateo
	14	Melissa Hurtado	Democratic	Sanger
	15	Jim Beall	Democratic	San Jose
	16	Shannon Grove	Republican	Bakersfield		Minority leader since March 1, 2019
	17	Bill Monning	Democratic	Carmel
	18	Robert Hertzberg	Democratic	Van Nuys
	19	Hannah-Beth Jackson	Democratic	Santa Barbara
	20	Connie Leyva	Democratic	Chino
	21	Scott Wilk	Republican	Santa Clarita
	22	Susan Rubio	Democratic	Baldwin Park
	23	Mike Morrell	Republican	Rancho Cucamonga
	24	Maria Elena Durazo	Democratic	Los Angeles
	25	Anthony Portantino	Democratic	La Cañada Flintridge
	26	Ben Allen	Democratic	Santa Monica
	27	Henry Stern	Democratic	Malibu
	28	Jeff Stone	Republican	La Quinta		Resigned on November 1, 2019
		Melissa Melendez	Republican			Sworn into office on May 18, 2020
	29	Ling Ling Chang	Republican	Diamond Bar
	30	Holly Mitchell	Democratic	Los Angeles
	31	Richard Roth	Democratic	Riverside
	32	Bob Archuleta	Democratic	Pico Rivera
	33	Ricardo Lara	Democratic	Bell Gardens		Resigned on January 7, 2019
		Lena Gonzalez	Democratic	Long Beach		Sworn into office on June 12, 2019
	34	Tom Umberg	Democratic	Santa Ana
	35	Steven Bradford	Democratic	Gardena
	36	Patricia Bates	Republican	Laguna Niguel		Minority leader until March 1, 2019
	37	John Moorlach	Republican	Costa Mesa
	38	Brian Jones	Republican	Santee
	39	Toni Atkins	Democratic	San Diego		President pro tempore
	40	Ben Hueso	Democratic	San Diego

State Assembly

61	1	17
Democratic	I	Republican

Affiliation	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)	Total
Democratic	Republican	Independent	Vacant
End of previous legislature		55	25	0	80	0
Begin		60	20	0	80	0
January 24, 2019	61	19	0	80	0
June 12, 2019		18	0	79	1
November 12, 2019		19	0	80	0
December 5, 2019		18	1	80	0
May 18, 2020		17	1	80	1
December 7, 2020		18	1	80	0
Latest voting share

Officers

Position		Name	Party	District
	Speaker	Anthony Rendon	Democratic	63rd–Lakewood
	Speaker pro tempore	Kevin Mullin	Democratic	22nd–South San Francisco
	Assistant speaker pro tempore	Rebecca Bauer-Kahan	Democratic	16th–Orinda
	Majority leader	Ian Calderon	Democratic	57th–Whittier
	Assistant majority leaders	Rob Bonta	Democratic	18th–Alameda
		Al Muratsuchi	Democratic	66th–Rolling Hills Estates
	Majority whip	Todd Gloria	Democratic	78th–San Diego
	Assistant majority whips	Tasha Boerner Horvath	Democratic	76th–Encinitas
		Jesse Gabriel	Democratic	45th–Encino
	Democratic caucus chair	Mike Gipson	Democratic	64th–Carson
	Republican leader	Marie Waldron	Republican	75th–Escondido
	Republican floor leader	Heath Flora	Republican	12th–Ripon
	Republican caucus chair	Jay Obernolte	Republican	33rd–Big Bear Lake
	Republican chief whip	Phillip Chen	Republican	55th–Yorba Linda
	Republican whip	Devon Mathis	Republican	26th–Visalia
Acting Chief Clerk		Sue Parker
Acting Chief Sergeant-at-Arms		Alisa Buckley
Chaplain		Reverend Patti Oshita

The Chief Clerk, the acting Chief Sergeant-at-Arms, and the chaplain are not members of the Legislature.

Members

District		Name	Party	Residence	Term-limited?	Notes
	1	Brian Dahle	Republican	Bieber		Resigned on June 12, 2019
	1	Megan Dahle	Republican	Bieber		Sworn in on November 12, 2019
	2	Jim Wood	Democratic	Santa Rosa
	3	James Gallagher	Republican	Yuba City
	4	Cecilia Aguiar-Curry	Democratic	Winters
	5	Frank Bigelow	Republican	O'Neals
	6	Kevin Kiley	Republican	Rocklin
	7	Kevin McCarty	Democratic	Sacramento
	8	Ken Cooley	Democratic	Rancho Cordova
	9	Jim Cooper	Democratic	Elk Grove
	10	Marc Levine	Democratic	Greenbrae
	11	Jim Frazier	Democratic	Discovery Bay
	12	Heath Flora	Republican	Ripon
	13	Susan Eggman	Democratic	Stockton
	14	Tim Grayson	Democratic	Concord
	15	Buffy Wicks	Democratic	Oakland
	16	Rebecca Bauer-Kahan	Democratic	Orinda
	17	David Chiu	Democratic	San Francisco
	18	Rob Bonta	Democratic	Alameda
	19	Phil Ting	Democratic	San Francisco
	20	Bill Quirk	Democratic	Hayward
	21	Adam Gray	Democratic	Merced
	22	Kevin Mullin	Democratic	South San Francisco
	23	Jim Patterson	Republican	Fresno
	24	Marc Berman	Democratic	Palo Alto
	25	Kansen Chu	Democratic	San Jose
	26	Devon Mathis	Republican	Visalia
	27	Ash Kalra	Democratic	San Jose
	28	Evan Low	Democratic	Campbell
	29	Mark Stone	Democratic	Scotts Valley
	30	Robert Rivas	Democratic	Hollister
	31	Joaquin Arambula	Democratic	Fresno
	32	Rudy Salas	Democratic	Bakersfield
	33	Jay Obernolte	Republican	Big Bear Lake
	34	Vince Fong	Republican	Bakersfield
	35	Jordan Cunningham	Republican	Paso Robles
	36	Tom Lackey	Republican	Palmdale
	37	Monique Limón	Democratic	Santa Barbara
	38	Christy Smith	Democratic	Santa Clarita
	39	Luz Rivas	Democratic	North Hollywood
	40	James Ramos	Democratic	Highland
	41	Chris Holden	Democratic	Pasadena
	42	Chad Mayes	Republican	Yucca Valley		Left the Republican Party on December 5, 2019
			Independent
	43	Laura Friedman	Democratic	Glendale
	44	Jacqui Irwin	Democratic	Thousand Oaks
	45	Jesse Gabriel	Democratic	Encino
	46	Adrin Nazarian	Democratic	North Hollywood
	47	Eloise Reyes	Democratic	Grand Terrace
	48	Blanca Rubio	Democratic	Baldwin Park
	49	Ed Chau	Democratic	Arcadia
	50	Richard Bloom	Democratic	Santa Monica
	51	Wendy Carrillo	Democratic	Boyle Heights
	52	Freddie Rodriguez	Democratic	Pomona
	53	Miguel Santiago	Democratic	Los Angeles
	54	Sydney Kamlager	Democratic	Los Angeles
	55	Phillip Chen	Republican	Yorba Linda
	56	Eduardo Garcia	Democratic	Coachella
	57	Ian Calderon	Democratic	Whittier
	58	Cristina Garcia	Democratic	Bell Gardens
	59	Reggie Jones-Sawyer	Democratic	Los Angeles
	60	Sabrina Cervantes	Democratic	Riverside
	61	Jose Medina	Democratic	Riverside
	62	Autumn Burke	Democratic	Marina del Rey
	63	Anthony Rendon	Democratic	Lakewood		Speaker
	64	Mike Gipson	Democratic	Carson
	65	Sharon Quirk-Silva	Democratic	Fullerton
	66	Al Muratsuchi	Democratic	Rolling Hills Estates
	67	Melissa Melendez	Republican	Lake Elsinore		Resigned on May 18, 2020
	67	Kelly Seyarto	Republican	Murrieta		Sworn in on December 7, 2020
	68	Steven Choi	Republican	Irvine
	69	Tom Daly	Democratic	Anaheim
	70	Patrick O'Donnell	Democratic	Long Beach
	71	Randy Voepel	Republican	Santee
	72	Tyler Diep	Republican	Westminster
	73	Bill Brough	Republican	Dana Point
	74	Cottie Petrie-Norris	Democratic	Laguna Beach
	75	Marie Waldron	Republican	Escondido		Minority leader
	76	Tasha Boerner Horvath	Democratic	Encinitas
	77	Brian Maienschein	Republican	San Diego		Changed parties on January 24, 2019^[8]
			Democratic
	78	Todd Gloria	Democratic	San Diego
	79	Shirley Weber	Democratic	San Diego		Resigned on January 29, 2021
	80	Lorena Gonzalez	Democratic	San Diego

See also

• List of California state legislatures

External links

• California State Senate
• California State Assembly

Notes and References

1. Web site: Tuesday, January 8, 2019 . Senate Daily Journal . . January 25, 2019 . Sacramento, California . 54 . PDF.
2. Web site: Monday, January 7, 2019 . Senate Daily Journal . . January 25, 2019 . Sacramento, California . 42–43 . PDF.
3. Web site: State Sen. Jeff Stone to resign after accepting Department of Labor job. August 21, 2020. www.msn.com.
4. Web site: Press . The Associated. May 13, 2020. Melissa Melendez wins California Senate seat in special election. August 21, 2020. The Mercury News. en-US.
5. News: Brian Maienschein quits Republican Party, joins Democrats in surprise move. Luis. Gomez. San Diego Union-Tribune. January 24, 2019. January 24, 2019.
6. News: California Republican Party gets even smaller: A GOP lawmaker defects to the Democrats. The Sacramento Bee. January 24, 2019.
7. News: Another California GOP lawmaker is leaving the Republican Party. Here's why. Anderson. Bryan. December 5, 2019. The Sacramento Bee. December 7, 2019.
8. News: Assemblyman Brian Maienschein Switches Parties, From Republican to Democrat. KNSD (NBC San Diego). January 24, 2019.