California Penal Code Section 86 is explicit about the legality of a lawmaker trading their vote for some other action:
“Every Member of either house of the Legislature, or any member of the legislative body of a city, county, city and county, school district, or other special district, who asks, receives, or agrees to receive, any bribe, upon any understanding that his or her official vote, opinion, judgment, or action shall be influenced thereby, or shall give, in any particular manner, or upon any particular side of any question or matter upon which he or she may be required to act in his or her official capacity, or gives, or offers or promises to give, any official vote in consideration that another Member of the Legislature, or another member of the legislative body of a city, county, city and county, school district, or other special district shall give this vote either upon the same or another question, is punishable by imprisonment in the state prison for two, three, or four years and, in cases in which no bribe has been actually received, by a restitution fine of not less than two thousand dollars ($2,000) or not more than ten thousand dollars ($10,000).
(Editor’s Note: Emphasis added.)
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Obviously, this provision doesn’t apply to the promulgation of sound public policy. I mean, can you imagine the chaos were legislators to cast a simple “up or down vote” on matters before them?
Not to worry the 9th circuit and the CZAR would never allow them in the prison population it would be inhumane treatment to the existing inmates.
Why oh why are we mere mortals expecting our leaders to follow the law!
Completely agree with your comments on this – thanks for taking the time to post.