Illinois Senate

Illinois Senate

The Illinois Senate is the upper chamber of the Illinois General Assembly, the legislative branch of the government of the state of Illinois in the United States. The body was created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. The Illinois Senate is made up of 59 senators elected from individual legislative districts determined by population. In order to avoid complete turnovers in Senate membership, under the Illinois Constitution of 1970, senators are divided into three groups, each group having a two-year term at a different part of the decade between censuses, with the rest of the decade being taken up by two four-year terms [Illinois Constitution Article IV, Section 2(a) http://www.ilga.gov/commission/lrb/con4.htm] . In contrast, the Illinois House of Representatives is made of 118 members with its entire membership elected to two-year terms. House districts are formed by dividing each Senate district in half. [Illinois Constitution Article IV, Section 2(b) http://www.ilga.gov/commission/lrb/con4.htm]

The Illinois Senate convenes at the Illinois State Capitol in Springfield, Illinois. Its first official working day is the second Wednesday of January each year. Its primary duties are to pass bills into law, approve the state budget, confirm appointments to state departments and agencies, act on federal constitutional amendments and propose constitutional amendments for Illinois. It also has the power to override gubernatorial vetoes through a three-fifths majority vote. The Illinois Senate tries impeachments made by the House of Representatives, and can convict impeached officers by a two-thirds vote.

Voting in the Illinois Senate is done by members pushing one of three buttons. Unlike most states, the Illinois Senate allows members to vote "yes," "no," or "present." It takes 30 affirmative votes to pass legislation during final action. The number of negative votes does not matter. Therefore the use of the "present" vote has the same effect as voting "no."

The Democratic Party of Illinois currently holds a veto-proof majority in the Illinois Senate.

Illinois State Senate - 95th General Assembly

Officers

*President of the Senate: Emil Jones, Jr.
*Majority Leader: Debbie Halvorson
*Majority Caucus Chair: Terry Link
*Minority Leader: Frank Watson
*Minority Caucus Chair: Dale Righter

Members of the Illinois Senate

References

External links

* [http://www.ilga.gov/senate/ Illinois General Assembly - Senate] official government site
* [http://www.senategop.state.il.us/ Illinois Senate Republicans] official party site
* [http://www.senatedem.ilga.gov/ Illinois Senate Democrats] official party site
* [http://votesmart.org/official_state_legislator.php?type=office&criteria=upper&state_id=IL&go.x=9&go.y=6 Project Vote Smart - State Senate of Illinois] voter information


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Нужно сделать НИР?

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Illinois Senate career of Barack Obama — Infobox Officeholder name = Barack Obama imagesize = small caption = order = Illinois State Senator from the 13th district term start = January 8, 1997 term end = November 4, 2004 predecessor = Alice J. Palmer successor = Kwame Raoul birth date …   Wikipedia

  • President of the Illinois Senate — List of Presidents of the Illinois Senate= This is a complete list of the Presidents of the Illinois Senate as of 2007. Each was chosen since the Illinois General Assembly s thirty second session in 1881. Prior to 1973, the Senate was led by the… …   Wikipedia

  • Illinois — This article is about the U.S. state of Illinois. For other uses, see Illinois (disambiguation). State of Illinois …   Wikipedia

  • Illinois House of Representatives elections, 2010 — For the 2010 Illinois Senate elections, see Illinois Senate elections, 2010. Illinois House of Representatives elections, 2010 2008 ← November 4, 2008 …   Wikipedia

  • Illinois General Assembly — The Illinois General Assembly is the legislative branch of the government of the state of Illinois in the United States, created by the first state constitution adopted in 1818. It works beside the executive branch led by the state governor and… …   Wikipedia

  • Illinois Constitution — The Constitution of the State of Illinois is the governing document of the state of Illinois. There have been four Illinois Constitutions; the fourth and current version was adopted in 1970. Contents 1 History 2 Preamble 3 Summary 4 …   Wikipedia

  • Illinois Route 137 — Infobox Illinois state route article route = 137 length mi = 23.49 length round = 2 length ref = cite web |author=Illinois Technology Transfer Center |url=http://www.dot.state.il.us/gist2/select.html |title=T2 GIS Data |accessdate=2007 11 08… …   Wikipedia

  • Illinois State Police Office (Pontiac) — Infobox nrhp name = Illinois State Police Office nrhp type = caption = location = Pontiac, Livingston County, Illinois, USA nearest city = lat degrees = 40 lat minutes = 49 lat seconds = 59 lat direction = N long degrees = 88 long minutes = 40… …   Wikipedia

  • Illinois House of Representatives — Infobox Legislature name = Illinois House of Representatives coa pic = coa pic = session room = house type = Bicameral houses = leader1 type = Speaker leader1 = Michael Madigan party1 = (D) election1 = 1997 leader2 type = Minority Leader leader2 …   Wikipedia

  • Illinois General Assembly — Die Illinois General Assembly tagt im Illinois State Capitol in Springfield. Die Illinois General Assembly ist die Legislative des US Bundesstaats von Illinois und wurde durch die erste staatliche Verfassung 1818 geschaffen. Sie besteht aus dem… …   Deutsch Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”