Who is tennessees legislature

The two bodies meet in their respective chambers and the members take an oath of office swearing to support the Constitution of the United States and the Constitution of Tennessee and to perform their official duties impartially without favor or prejudice and to always to protect the rights of the people.

Each body adopts its rules of procedure to be followed for the next two years. The rules provide for orderly proceedings and determine how the Senate and House will conduct business. Frequently, a legislator will move to "suspend the rules" to speed the flow of business, but at least two-thirds of the members must agree to the suspension. The membership of each body then elects a presiding officer or speaker for a two-year term the lifetime of each separate General Assembly who holds that office until a successor is chosen at the initial convening of the next General Assembly.

No limit is placed on the number of times a member may retain the office of Speaker. The Speaker also appoints the officers of each standing committee and the membership of the standing committees. Once all organizational business is completed, the General Assembly then convenes in regular session and begins to act on legislation. In general, the functions of the Legislature are to enact, amend, and repeal the laws of Tennessee. Some of the specific powers granted to the General Assembly by the state Constitution include: the appropriation of all money to be paid out of the state treasury; the levy and collection of taxes; and the right to authorize counties and incorporated towns to levy taxes.

A quorum of two-thirds of all the members to which a house is entitled is required to transact any business; a smaller number can only adjourn from day to day and may compel the attendance of absent members. Legislative proposals can originate in either the Senate or House in the form of bills, resolutions and joint resolutions. A bill is a proposed law and may be either general or local.

A general bill has a statewide impact, and a local bill affects only a particular county or town named in the bill. This local bill is sometimes referred to as "enabling legislation.

The state operates on an annual budget cycle. The sequence of key events in the budget process is as follows: [9]. Tennessee is one of 44 states in which the governor has line item veto authority. The governor is constitutionally required to submit a balanced budget proposal.

Likewise, the legislature is required to adopt a balanced budget. Tennessee legislators assume office on the day they are elected in the general election.

The Tennessee Senate, according to the Tennessee Constitution of , is composed of 33 members, one-third the size of the Tennessee House of Representatives.

Senators are to be elected from districts of substantially equal population. Each member represented an average of , residents , as of the Census. Carr US and Reynolds v. Sims U. Until , Tennessee state senators served two-year terms. That year the system was changed, by constitutional amendment, to allow four year terms. In that year, senators in even-numbered districts were elected to two-year terms and those in odd-numbered districts were elected to four-year terms.

This created a staggered system in which only half of the senate is up for election at any one time. Districts are to be sequentially and consecutively numbered; the scheme basically runs from east to west and north to south.

Republicans attained an elected majority in the Senate in the th General Assembly for the first time since Reconstruction; a brief majority in the s was the result of two outgoing senators switching parties. The senate elects one of its own members as Speaker; the Speaker automatically becomes Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee. Click here for a list of members of this chamber. Between and , partisan control of the Tennessee State Senate shifted in favor of the Republican Party.

As a result of the elections, Democrats held a majority. Republicans flipped the chamber in and, by , expanded their majority to The table below shows the partisan history of the Tennessee State Senate following every general election from to Data after was compiled by Ballotpedia staff. There was little change in the partisan balance of the state Senate between and In the elections , Republicans gained two seats and took control of the chamber.

The largest movement in partisan balance occurred as a result of the elections , when Republicans picked up six seats. By , the Republican majority had expanded to According to the state constitution of , this body is to consist of 99 members elected for two-year terms. Each member represented an average of 64, residents , as of the Census. Seats which become vacant through death or resignation are filled by the county commission or metropolitan county council of the home county of the member vacating the seat; if more than a year remains in the term a special election is held for the balance of the term.

The Speaker of the House is second in line to succession to the governorship after the Speaker of the Tennessee Senate; however, no Speaker of the Tennessee House has ever become governor. The Speaker, under House rules, has the right to appoint all committees and their chairs and assign proposed legislation to committees, giving the Speaker tremendous power to push legislation through or conversely, to block it. Between and , partisan control of the Tennessee House of Representatives shifted in favor of the Republican Party.

The table below shows the partisan history of the Tennessee House of Representatives following every general election from to Republicans made small gains in most elections between and In the elections , Republicans gained four seats and took control of the chamber. The following election, in , was the most significant shift in partisan control between and Republicans gained 14 seats in and followed up those gains with another seven seats picked up in the elections.

State legislatures can override governors' vetoes. Depending on the state, this can be done during the regular legislative session, in a special session following the adjournment of the regular session, or during the next legislative session. The rules for legislative overrides of gubernatorial vetoes in Tennessee are listed below. How many legislators are required to vote for an override? A majority of members in both chambers. Tennessee State Senate: From , the Democratic Party was the majority in the Tennessee State Senate for 12 years while the Republicans were the majority for eight years.

Tennessee was under Republican trifectas for the final three years of the study. Across the country, there were Democratic and Republican state senates from to Tennessee State House of Representatives: From , the Democratic Party was the majority in the Tennessee State House of Representatives for first 18 years while the Republicans were the majority for the last four years.

The Tennessee House of Representatives is one of 18 state Houses that was Democratic for more than 80 percent of the years between Across the country, there were Democratic and Republican State Houses of Representatives from to Over the course of the year study, state governments became increasingly more partisan.

At the outset of the study period , 18 of the 49 states with partisan legislatures had single-party trifectas and 31 states had divided governments. In , only 13 states had divided governments, while single-party trifectas held sway in 36 states, the most in the 22 years studied. The chart below shows the partisan composition of the Office of the Governor of Tennessee , the Tennessee State Senate and the Tennessee House of Representatives from to The chart below depicts the partisanship of the Tennessee state government and the state's SQLI ranking for the years studied.

At the beginning of the legislative session, there were 38 standing committees' in Tennessee's state government, including 15 joint legislative committees, nine state Senate committees, and 14 state House committees. In every state but Delaware, voter approval is required to enact a constitutional amendment.

In each state, the legislature has a process for referring constitutional amendments before voters. In 18 states, initiated constitutional amendments can be put on the ballot through a signature petition drive. There are also many other types of statewide measures. The Tennessee Constitution can be amended in two ways:.

Below is a list of measures that were referred to the ballot by the legislature or that have made it approximately halfway through In states where it takes one session to refer a measure to the ballot, Ballotpedia begins coverage of proposals once they have passed in one chamber of the legislature and only require approval in the second chamber for referral. In states where it takes two session to refer a measure to the ballot, Ballotpedia begins coverage of proposals once they have passed in both chambers in the first session required.

Between and , partisan control of the Tennessee State Senate shifted in favor of the Republican Party. As a result of the elections, Democrats held a majority. Republicans flipped the chamber in and, by , expanded their majority to The table below shows the partisan history of the Tennessee State Senate following every general election from to Data after was compiled by Ballotpedia staff.

There was little change in the partisan balance of the state Senate between and In the elections , Republicans gained two seats and took control of the chamber. The largest movement in partisan balance occurred as a result of the elections , when Republicans picked up six seats. By , the Republican majority had expanded to Between and , partisan control of the Tennessee House of Representatives shifted in favor of the Republican Party. The table below shows the partisan history of the Tennessee House of Representatives following every general election from to Republicans made small gains in most elections between and In the elections , Republicans gained four seats and took control of the chamber.

The following election, in , was the most significant shift in partisan control between and Republicans gained 14 seats in and followed up those gains with another seven seats picked up in the elections. Ballotpedia features , encyclopedic articles written and curated by our professional staff of editors, writers, and researchers.

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