Florida State Legislature Research Paper

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Thalia Gonzalez POS 2112 21Z Ms .James Writing Assignment #2 November 1, 2015 Florida’s State Legislature The United States Constitution was created in order to obtain a stronger centralized government and of course each state has its own constitution in order to pass laws, set budgets, etc. The Florida constitution mandates a bicameral legislature with two chambers, the upper and lower house. These houses are known as the Senate upper house and House of Representatives lower house. The home of these two chambers is in the Florida State Capitol which is a twenty-two story building which is also home to our executive branch. Both chambers have been under Republican control since 1996. There are 160 state legislators with the upper house consisting of no more than 40 members and the lower house with no more than 120 members. State Representatives may be elected for up to four terms, which is eight years. State Senators can be elected for up to two terms which consist of also eight years. Although former members may be elected again after a two year break. The two houses meet for a session each beginning of March for a period that does not exceed sixty days. Each house has their own leader, Andy Gardiner as the President of Senate and Steve Crisafulli as the Speaker of the House. There are currently two senators, Bill Nelson and Marco Rubio as well as …show more content…

The regular session may not exceed sixty days. Special sessions are held as needed which may be called by the State governor, currently Bill Posey or if the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House come to an agreement to hold a special session which of course may not exceed twenty days. There must be a three-fifths vote from each house in order to extend any session whether it is regular or a special. These sessions are held in order for the legislative branch to come to an agreement with many