Tennessee Senate
The Senate of Tennessee (Tennessee State Senate ) is the upper house of the Tennessee General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Tennessee. The meeting room of the Senate is located together with the House of Representatives in the Tennessee State Capitol in Nashville the capital.
History
According to the Constitution of Tennessee in 1870, the Parliament of Appeal shall consist of 33 members, which is exactly one-third of the seats in the House of Representatives. According to an ancient settlement in the Constitution is not a part of a county could be associated with one another in order to create a potential district. This rule was explained by the decisions of the Supreme Court of the United States in Baker v. Carr ( 369 U.S. 182 1962) and Reynolds v. Sims ( 337 U.S. 356 1964) to be void. Then the Constitution of Tennessee has been modified so that it is now allowed because of a referendum held if these regulations ever be amended or repealed, to allow the Senate to draw districts other than on the basis of the same population.
Until 1966, the term of office of a member of the Senate of Tennessee was limited to two years. Was then increased by a constitutional amendment in that year the term of office to four years. Furthermore, the terms have been staggered so that always half of the senators are elected every two years. To accomplish this, we chose 1966 for the first time in the straight Senate districts Senators for two years and in each odd-numbered Senate District for four years. The districts shall be numbered sequentially and successively. The plan runs generally from east to west and from north to south.
Tasks of the Senate
The Senate from Tennessee in the fall as upper houses of other states and territories, as well as in the U.S. Senate compared to the House of Representatives special tasks that go beyond the law. So it is up to the Senate, nominations of the Governor in his cabinet to accept or reject other offices of the executive branch and commissions and authorities.
Structure of the chamber
President of the Senate ( Speaker) is an elected member of the Senate, which is also the choice for Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee. In the absence of the Vice- Governor of the respective Speaker pro tempore stands in front of the plenary sessions. This is elected by the majority party of the Senate and later confirmed by the chamber. Current Lieutenant Governor and Speaker is Republican Ron Ramsey, Speaker pro tempore the Republican Jamie Woodson (6th District).
Other important office holders are the Majority Leader ( Majority Leader ) and the leader of the opposition (minority leader), who are elected by the respective fractions. Majority leader of the Republicans, Mark Norris from the 32 election district; Minority leader of the Democrats Jim Kyle (28th election district ).