Virginia Senate
The Virginia Senate is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly , the legislature of the US state of Virginia .
The Chamber of Parliament is composed of 40 senators, each representing an electoral district. Each of these fixed units comprises an average of 176,000 citizens. The MPs are each elected for four-year terms. The elections always take place on the Tuesday after the first Monday in November.
Parliament has met at the Virginia State Capitol in the capital, Richmond , since 1788 . This was designed by Thomas Jefferson . In recent years, the members of the General Assembly and its staff have gathered in the General Assembly Building , located in Capitol Square .
Tasks of the Senate
As in the upper houses of other states and territories and in the US Senate , the Virginia Senate has special tasks compared to the House of Representatives that go beyond legislation. It is the responsibility of the Senate to confirm or reject nominations by the governor in his cabinet, other executive offices, commissions and authorities.
Salary and requirements for the Chamber of Deputies
The annual salary of the delegates is $ 18,000. In addition, each candidate must have reached the age of 21 before being elected to the House of Representatives and must be a resident of the district they wish to represent. But he must also be entitled to vote for the General Assembly Legislature. A regular session of the General Assembly lasts 60 days in an even year and 30 days in an odd year, unless it is extended by a two-thirds majority.
Structure of the chamber
The President of the Senate is the acting Vice-Governor . He only takes part in votes in order to bring about a decision in the event of a stalemate. In the absence of the Vice Governor - currently Republican Bill Bolling - the respective President presides over the plenary sessions pro tempore . This is elected by the majority parliamentary group in the Senate and later confirmed by the Chamber. Other important office holders are the majority leader and the opposition leader ( minority leader ), who are elected by the respective parliamentary groups.
Composition of the Chamber
| Political party | MPs | |
|---|---|---|
| Democratic Party | 22nd | |
| Republican Party | 18th | |
| total | 40 | |
| majority | 4th | |
Important chamber members
| position | Surname | Political party | District |
|---|---|---|---|
| President Pro Tempore | Charles J. Colgan | democrat | 29 |
| Majority Leader | Richard L. Saslaw | democrat | 35 |
| Minority Leader | Tommy Norment | republican | 3 |
Senate seal
The Senate has its own coat of arms designed and issued by the College of Arms in England . This crest is also featured on the official seal of the Virginia Senate. But it bears no resemblance to the seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia, which is the seal of the entire state.
The coat of arms was adopted on January 22, 1981. It is said to be based on the seal and coat of arms of the London Company , the royally chartered companies that financed the European settlement in Virginia. There is no resemblance between them except for the quartered shield that appears on both images.
In the center of the Senate coat of arms there is a shield, which is divided into four sections by a red cross. In each of these neighborhoods there is a small shield representing the coats of arms of four countries (England, France , Scotland and Ireland ) from which most of the settlers came to Virginia in the first waves of European immigration.
The four coats of arms, a small helmet jewel of a crowned female head with loose hair, which probably represents Queen Elizabeth I (Virginia was named after the Virgin Queen ), and the dragon (part of Elizabeth's royal seal of England) refer to Virginia's European heritage. The Senate seal is no reference to Virginia's American Native or African American heritage.
An ivory hammer adorns the vertical part of the red cross in the coat of arms, which identifies the Senate as the legislative power. The pictured cardinal and dogwood are Virginia's official state bird and tree. The tape contains the Latin motto of the Senate, Floreat Senatus Virginiae , which means "May the Senate of Virginia blossom".
Individual evidence
- ↑ Virginia Senators. Retrieved September 29, 2019 .
- ↑ a b Virginia State Legislature. (PDF; 16.4 kB) In: VAKids.org. Archived from the original on October 1, 2008 ; accessed on February 9, 2014 (English).
- ↑ a b c d Official Virginia State Senate "Capitol Classroom" site ( Memento of the original from September 26, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. . Accessed November 7, 2007.
- ↑ a b c d Answers.Com: Virginia State Senate Seal Accessed November 7, 2007.
Web links
- Virginia General Assembly (English)
- Project Vote Smart - Senate of Virginia (English)
- Official emblems of Virginia (English)
First the lower house and then the upper house is linked in the brackets.
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