California State Assembly

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Seal of the California State Assembly
State Capitol in Sacramento
State Assembly boardroom

The California State Assembly ( German  State Assembly of California ) is the lower house of the California State Legislature , the legislature of the US state of California .

The parliamentary chamber consists of 80 members, each representing an electoral district. Each of these fixed units has an average of 465,674 inhabitants. The Assembly is the smallest legislature in relation to its population in the United States . One MP has the largest proportion of the population in any House of Commons, only the US House of Representatives has a larger proportion.

The boardroom, along with the State Senate, is located in the California State Capitol in the capital Sacramento .

Structure of the chamber

The chairman is the Speaker of the Assembly . He is first elected by the majority parliamentary group in the chamber before confirmation by the entire parliament follows. The speaker is also responsible for the legislative process and oversees the assignments to the various committees. The current speaker has been the Democrat Anthony Rendon since 2016 .

Other important office holders are the majority leader and the opposition leader ( minority leader ), who are elected by the respective parliamentary groups. Majority leader of the Democrats is Ian Charles Calderon as Minority leader of the Republicans acts Chad Mayes .

Term of office

The term of office of an MP is two years and begins in December. In November of every even year, all 80 seats are reassigned. After a referendum in 1990, the term of office of the Members of the Assembly was limited to three two-year terms (six years). Another referendum in 2012 modified this provision. MPs elected as of 2012 may remain in the state legislature - Assembly, Senate, or any combination of the two - for a total of 12 years .

The longest-serving politician in the California State Assembly was Democrat Vincent Thomas , who served in the House of Representatives for 38 years (1940–1978).

Assembly chamber

The chamber's greens are based on the British House of Commons . The podium is located along a wall shaped like an “E” with a centrally located speaker's platform. A portrait of Abraham Lincoln appears along the parapet with a quote in Latin : legislatorum est justas leges condere (“It is the duty of the legislature to pass fair laws”). Almost every decorative element is identical to the Senate Chamber.

composition

Political party MPs
Election 2016 current
Democratic Party 55 55
Republican Party 25th 25th
vacant 0 0
total 80 80
majority 41 41

Passive suffrage

Every member of the Assembly must be a citizen of the United States and, since the nomination papers are released, be a registered voter in an electoral district. Furthermore, he must not have served three terms in the State Assembly since November 6, 1990. Pursuant to Article IV, Section 2 (c) of the California Constitution, a candidate must have lived in a legislative district for at least one year and resided in California for three years, despite a legal opinion from the California Secretary of State's office indicating that these provisions are in violation of the United States Constitution .

Web links