CA Senate Moves 3 Pro-Choice Bills to Suspense File

CA Senate Moves 3 Pro-Choice Bills to Suspense File  

Yesterday afternoon the California Senate Appropriations Committee moved AB 2490, AB 2670, and AB 2085 to the Suspense file.  

Generally, when the cost of a bill is $50,000 or more to the General Fund, the bill will be moved into the Suspense file, where it is eventually determined to either be moved to the appropriate house floor, or it is held in submission for some reason.  

This time allowed between votes is a way for the legislature to appropriately consider all of the potential fiscal implications of any one bill. The appropriations committee decides this after an open hearing and allows for no public testimony.  

As of yesterday evening, all three bills were moved to the Suspense file for further consideration at a later date. No one spoke either in support or opposition of the bills at this time.  

Of note is that the Department of Finance was opposed to all three bills because of the cost pressures they would put on the general fund. They reminded the legislators that there have been hundreds of millions of dollars spent on prioritizing and protecting reproductive healthcare in the last few years.  

Furthermore, they noted specifically for AB 2670, a bill which seeks to create an abortion awareness campaign, and that Department of Health estimated these costs to be $1.6-1.8 million in the fiscal year 2025-26, $2.4-3.5 million in fiscal year 2026-27, and $2.4-3.7 million for all ongoing years to oversee the campaign.  

According to the legislative process, the committee has until the deadlines for fiscal committees to hear and report bills to the Senate Floor to decide how they will proceed with a bill that has been placed in a Suspense File.  

This year, the deadline for that is Aug. 16. Following that, from Aug. 19-31, there will be floor sessions and potentially votes on these bills, should they make it to the full Senate floor.  

You can stay posted here for any updates on that process!