Montana State Legislature

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Montana State Legislature

Type

Bicameral

Houses

Senate
House of Representatives

President of the Senate

Mike Cooney, (D)
since January 3, 2007

Speaker of the House

Scott Sales, (R)
since January 3, 2007

Members

150

Political groups

Democratic Party
Republican Party
Constitution Party of Montana

Last elections

January 3, 2007

Meeting place

Montana State Capitol

Web site

http://leg.mt.gov/css/default.asp

The Montana State Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Montana. It is composed of the 100-member Montana House of Representatives and the 50-member Montana Senate.

The Montana Constitution dictates that the legislature meet only on odd numbered years, and for 90 day periods. However, the Legislature did meet annually briefly from 1973 to 1975. The primary work of the legislature at these times is to pass a bi-annual budget which must then be approved by the Governor.

Since the beginning of statehood for Montana, the Legislature has been split along party lines fairly consistently and evenly. Since adoption of the new state constitution in 1972, which mandated single-member legislative districts for the first time in the state's history, the Montana Senate has been controlled by Democrats in 10 sessions, and Republicans in 10 sessions. During the same period of time, the Montana House has been controlled by Democrats in 11 sessions and Republicans in 9 sessions. There have been several ties between the parties in each chamber. However, in such an instance, control goes to the party of the sitting Governor according to Montana law.

The Montana State Legislature meets in the state capital of Helena. Democrats currently hold a one-seat majority in Senate, while the Republicans hold a one-seat majority in the House.

[edit] See also

[edit] External links

v • d • e Legislatures of the United States

United States Congress	United States House of Representatives · United States Senate

State legislatures	Alabama (H, S) · Alaska (H, S) · Arizona (H, S) · Arkansas (H, S) · California (A, S) · Colorado (H, S) · Connecticut (H, S) · Delaware (H, S) · Florida (H, S) · Georgia (H, S) · Hawaii (H, S) · Idaho (H, S) · Illinois (H, S) · Indiana (H, S) · Iowa (H, S) · Kansas (H, S) · Kentucky (H, S) · Louisiana (H, S) · Maine (H, S) · Maryland (H, S) · Massachusetts (H, S) · Michigan (H, S) · Minnesota (H, S) · Mississippi (H, S) · Missouri (H, S) · Montana (H, S) · Nebraska · Nevada (A, S) · New Hampshire (H, S) · New Jersey (GA, S) · New Mexico (H, S) · New York (A, S) · North Carolina (H, S) · North Dakota (H, S) · Ohio (H, S) · Oklahoma (H, S) · Oregon (H, S) · Pennsylvania (H, S) · Rhode Island (H, S) · South Carolina (H, S) · South Dakota (H, S) · Tennessee (H, S) · Texas (H, S) · Utah (H, S) · Vermont (H, S) · Virginia (H, S) · Washington (H, S) · West Virginia (H, S) · Wisconsin (A, S) · Wyoming (H, S)

Territorial legislatures	American Samoa (H, S) · District of Columbia · Guam · Northern Mariana Islands (H, S) · Puerto Rico (H, S) · U.S. Virgin Islands