California Legislature

This page collects the reference material a student trustee actually reaches for. The cards below take you to the people — look up your Assemblymember, State Senator, U.S. Representative and Senators, and the committees where education bills are heard. Further down are the calendars: California's 2026 session deadlines, then a side-by-side of when the U.S. House and Senate are each in Washington. Every link goes to an official state or federal source.

2026 session calendar

Key dates for the second year of the 2025–26 session. Source: the Senate's official Tentative Legislative Calendar.

• Statutes take effect

  Bills signed in 2025 become law.

• In session

  Legislature reconvenes

  Second year of the two-year session begins.

• Budget

  Governor's budget proposal

  Constitutional deadline to submit the budget.

• Deadline

  Policy committees: 2-year fiscal bills

  Last day to report fiscal bills introduced in 2025.

• Deadline

  Committees: 2-year bills to the Floor

  Last day to report bills introduced in 2025.

• Deadline

  House passage of 2-year bills

  Each house must pass its own 2025 bills.

• Deadline

  Bill introduction deadline

  Last day for new bills to be introduced this session.

• Recess

  Spring recess begins

• In session

  Legislature reconvenes

  Back from spring recess.

• Deadline

  Policy committees: fiscal bills

  Last day to report fiscal bills from their house.

• Deadline

  Policy committees: non-fiscal bills

  Last day to report non-fiscal bills from their house.

• Deadline

  Fiscal committees to the Floor

  Last day to report bills from their house.

• Key deadline

  House passage deadline

  Last day for each house to pass its own bills. The biggest cutoff of the year.

• Budget

  Budget Bill must pass

  Constitutional midnight deadline.

• Recess

  Summer recess begins

  Follows the final policy committee reporting deadline.

• In session

  Legislature reconvenes

  Back from summer recess.

• Deadline

  Fiscal committees: final reports

  Last day to report bills to the Floor.

• Deadline

  Last day to amend on the Floor

• Key deadline

  Final passage deadline

  Last day for each house to pass bills; final recess begins.

• Key deadline

  Governor's action deadline

  Last day to sign or veto bills passed in August.

• Election

  General Election

• Key deadline

  Adjournment sine die

  The 2025–26 session ends at midnight.

Congress — where the two chambers differ

The House and Senate set their calendars separately, and in 2026 they diverge more than they line up. These are the stretches where one chamber is working and the other isn't.

• Late January

  Jan 19 – Jan 30
  House

  In session through Jan 23, then a district work period the week of Jan 26.

  Senate

  Out Jan 19–23, back the week of Jan 26.

  The breaks are staggered, so the two chambers are rarely home at the same time. The stopgap funding deadline is Jan 30 — the House has to move spending bills before it leaves.

• Spring recess

  Mar 30 – Apr 10
  House

  Overlaps part of the Senate's break, but on its own pattern.

  Senate

  Out both weeks — a single block around Passover and Easter.

  The Senate's is the longer and cleaner of the two.

• Fourth of July

  Jun 29 – Jul 10
  House

  In session the week leading up to July 4.

  Senate

  Out both weeks.

  One of the sharpest splits of the year: the House works the run-up to the nation's 250th, the Senate does not.

• Back from summer

  Aug 10 – Sep 14
  House

  Away most of August, back for one week Aug 31 – Sep 3, then out again.

  Senate

  Out the whole stretch; returns Sep 14.

  If you need both chambers in the room in early September, you have a very short window.

• Pre-election break

  Oct 1 – Nov 9
  House

  Last votes Oct 1, then more than five weeks out; returns Nov 9.

  Senate

  Out Oct 5 – Nov 6; returns two days after Election Day.

  Both chambers clear the calendar to campaign. Election Day is Nov 3.

• Veterans Day week

  Nov 9 – Nov 13
  House

  In session, Veterans Day included.

  Senate

  Out Nov 11–13.

  The House meets the week after the midterms; the Senate takes the holiday.

• Year end

  Dec 17 – Dec 18
  House

  Wraps roughly a day earlier.

  Senate

  Last votes targeted for Dec 18, then out Dec 21–31.

  Anything unfinished carries into the new Congress in January 2027.

Weeks both chambers are away

• Feb 16 – 20Presidents' Day week
• May 25 – 29Memorial Day week
• Nov 23 – 27Thanksgiving week

Senate, in full. The Senate publishes its non-session weeks outright: Jan 19–23, Feb 16–20, Mar 30 – Apr 10, May 4–8, May 25–29, Jun 29 – Jul 10, Aug 10 – Sep 11, Oct 5 – Nov 6, Nov 11–13, Nov 23–27, Dec 21–31. Everything else is a session week.
On the House column. The House releases day-level detail only as a colour-coded PDF, so the House entries above follow Roll Call's reporting on that calendar rather than a machine-readable official list. Both official calendars are linked under Federal — calendars above; check them before you book travel.