Arizona Education Network

The Structure of the Arizona Legislature

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The Arizona Legislature is a “bicameral system.”  A bicameral system is comprised of a “lower house,” the House of Representatives, and an “upper house,” the Senate.  There are 30 Legislative Districts in Arizona, and combined there are 90  legislators (30 Senators and 60 House Members)who meet in Phoenix, at the Capital Complex, to represent the entire state constituency.

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The Arizona Senate:

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There are only 30 members of the Senate;  1 senator is elected from each of the 30 legislative districts.  Each senator is elected to serve a 2 year term, and is limited to four terms or 8 consecutive years.

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Since Arizona is only 1 of 4 states without a lieutenant governor*, the Arizona Senate elects its own President.  The president oversees the senate, appoints members to all of the Senate’s Committees and to Joint Committees.  The President can also create other committees or subcommittees.  Since Republicans have a majority in the 2009-2010 Senate, they are the controlling caucus.

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The Arizona Senate also has the ability to confirm or reject gubernatorial appointments, commissions or boards.

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* Since there is no Lt. Governor; in the case of resignation or death of a sitting governor, the elected Arizona Secretary of State succeeds to the Governorship.

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The following are the current leadership of the Arizona Senate:

Senate President,   Robert “Bob” Burns,  (R) Peoria , LD-9

Senate Majority Leader,  Chuck Gray, (R)  Mesa , LD-19

Senate Minority Leader,  Jorge Luis Garcia, (D)  Tucson, LD-27

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House of Representatives:

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There are 60 members of the House of Representatives; 2 representatives are elected from each of the 30 legislative districts.  Each representative is elected to serve a 2 year term, and is limited to four terms or 8 consecutive years.

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The Speaker of the House is elected by the majority party caucus. Since Republicans have a majority in the 2009-2010 Senate, they are the controlling caucus.  The speaker is also the chief leadership position, and controls legislation and committee assignments.

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The following are the current leadership of the Arizona House

House Speaker,  Kirk Adams, (R)  Mesa, LD-19

House Majority Leader,  John McComish,  (R)  Ahwatukee,  LD- 20

House Minority Leader,  David Lujan, (D)  Tucson, LD-15

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For a full listing of the members of the Arizona Legislature, click here.
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Tags: bob burns, Brewer v. Burns, budget, k-12 education funding

This entry was posted on Monday, July 6th, 2009 at 2:17 PM and is filed under Featured Articles, How Your State Government Works. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.