Missouri State Legislature

From Ballotpedia

The Missouri General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Missouri. The bicameral General Assembly is composed of a 34-member Senate, and a 163-member House of Representatives. Members of both houses of the General Assembly are subject to term limits. Senators are limited to two terms, and Representatives to four; a total of 8 years for members of both houses.

According to the Missouri Constitution, "The general assembly shall meet on the first Wednesday after the first Monday in January following each general election. The general assembly may provide by law for the introduction of bills during the period between the first day of December and the first Wednesday after the first Monday of January.

The general assembly shall reconvene on the first Wednesday after the first Monday of January after adjournment at midnight on May thirtieth of the preceding year."

As a part-time legislature, compensation is low, and most senators and representatives hold jobs outside their legislative duties. Law makers are paid $31,351 per legislative year.

The General Assembly meets at the State Capitol in Jefferson City.

Senate

The Missouri State Senate is the upper chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 34 members, representing districts with an average population of 160,000. Its members serve four-year terms, with half the seats being up for election every two years. As of August 2007, the party representation in the Senate is composed of 20 Republicans and 14 Democrats.

House of Representatives

The Missouri House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the Missouri General Assembly. It has 163 members, representing districts with an average size of 31,000 residents. As of the first session of the 94th General Assembly in 2007, the party representation in the House of Representatives is composed of 92 Republicans and 71 Democrats.

Standing Committees

These are the yearly recurring committees that hold hearings on legislation filed by Representatives. Once filed, legislation is assigned to a specific committee by the Missouri Speaker of the House. Legislation is typically assigned to the committee whose province envelopes the subject matter of the bill. However, there are frequently multiple relevant committees to which a bill can be assigned, and it is at the Speaker's discretion to choose which committee receives the bill. Politics can also play a part, as the Speaker may assign a bill he or she wants to fail to a committee with an unfriendly chair or membership, or may select a more friendly committee if he or she wishes the bill to pass.

The partisan makeup of each committee is intended to reflect as closely as possible the partisan makeup of the entire House. Each Party caucus selects which of its members will serve on the Standing Committees, and the Chair of each committee is chosen by the Speaker of the House.

Special Committees

Special committees are new to the Missouri House. In 2007, Speaker of the House Rod Jetton disbanded several Standing Committees, which had previously been the norm in the Missouri House, and instead established the Special Committees. The subject matter of these committees is more specialized than the Standing Committees, so most of these committees have been assigned less bills on average than the Standing Committees.

Another distinction between Special and Standing Committees is that the Minority Party selects which members of its caucus will sit on Standing Committees. The membership of Special Committees, however, is decided exclusively by the Speaker of the House. The partisan breakdown of both Standing and Special Committees, however, is established by standing House Rule and is intended to closely reflect the partisan breakdown of the entire Missouri House.

References

• Wikipedia: Missouri General Assembly

External links

• Official General Assembly Website
• Missouri Senate Website
• Missouri House of Representatives Website

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