The single-subject rule should be fatal to trailer bills
Overview Each year, California’s legislature enacts dozens of trailer bills to implement the state budget — and all likely are unconstitutional. Trailer bills are described as “a fairly outrageous assault on the legislative process,”[1] or as “half-baked bills written behind closed doors.”[2] Even the state’s high court has characterized fiscal legislation as “particularly susceptible to abuse.”[3] The constitutional problem is that adopting substantive policy bills within larger trailer bills spanning countless topics violates the single-subject rule. Other states have express permission in their state constitutions for similar budget-implementing legislation. California does not, and the state’s courts have yet to strike...
