Congress and the California Legislature
California’s legislature is based on the same model as Congress but has some differences too. It consists of bicameral parliament, which includes Senate and Assembly (Anagnoson, 2011). Naturally, the number of members is much smaller in each of these legislates than in Congress, yet the functions and ways of election are similar. Most of work is done by committees created within Senate and Assembly; each of the committees is assigned a certain task and has to resolve issues associated with a particular field. There are standing committees, which are permanent, and selected committees, which are created to study a certain issue. Each member usually participates in several committees depending on his or her expertize (Anagnoson, 2011)
The main function of legislators is to create laws on the local level of California State. The process consists of several stages. First of all, bills are written and are later discussed by committees. When committees approve drafts, they are then reviewed and debated by the whole Senate or Assembly. Based on the debates, amendments are introduced, after which the final draft is approved (Anagnoson, 2011). Thus, the primary goal of committees is to study a particular issue closely and prepare initial suggestion for a future law.
Obviously, committees have to be close to those people whom they represent and understand how their propositions are correlated with the public opinion. Because most legislators represent particular political parties and groups, it is logical that representatives of different organizations are chosen for a committee so that they can balance each other. The usual number of committees is over thirty, including standing and select committees (Anagnoson, 2011). There are cross-houses committees, which unite Senate and Assembly members and consider broader and more crucial issues that require additional efforts. Committees are otherwise referred to as issue networks and include not only legislators but the teams that assist them on a particular issue (Anagnoson, 2011).
