Legislative Branch

Federal and State

Federal Government= Congress

• Senate– 2 from each state– 100 total– 6 year terms– VP is presiding

officer, votes if there is a tie

• House of Representatives– Number is based on

the state’s population

– Currently 435 representatives

– 2 year terms– “Speaker of the

House” which is voted on by the majority party, is the presiding officer

Powers of Congress

• (see page 512)• Regulating Commerce• Levying and collection taxes• Creating laws• Issuing Money• Issuing copyrights and Patents• Regulation of weights and measures (i.e. miles,

oz., gallons)• Declaring War

Georgia’s Legislative Branch

• General Assembly: Georgia’s legislature

• 1789: became bi-cameral (two house)– House of Representatives: only HR can write

appropriations (spending bills)– Senate: only the Senate can confirm

appointments the governor makes to executive offices

Important Terms

• Expressed powers -powers stated in the Constitution

• Implied powers – are powers needed to carryout the expressed powers

• Elastic clause – the clause that stretches Congress’ powers, Article I, section 8 of our Constitution

• Bill – proposed legislation• Veto – refusal to sign

Georgia General Assembly(meets for 40 days)

• House– 180 members of the

house– Voted by the people

for a 2 year term– No limit on the number

of terms

• Senate– 56 members– Voted by the people

for a 2 year term

Qualifications to run for Georgia’s General Assembly

• Senate– At least 25 yrs old– Citizens of the US– Citizens of GA for at

least 2 yrs– Legal resident of their

district for 1 yr

• House– At least 21 yrs old– Citizen of US– Citizen of GA for at

least 2 yrs– Legal resident of their

district for 1 yr

Legislative Sessions

• Starts the second Mon. in January goes to mid-March (breaks don’t count)

• Lieutenant Governor: presides over the Senate- does not have a vote

• Speaker of the House: presides over the HR (elected)– Both SOH and LG appoint committees, assign bills to

committees, and chairpersons– Speaker of the House has a vote only if there is a tie

Committees

• Members of both the House and Senate are organized into Committees

• Committees: all bills must be reviewed by Committees before they can brought to a vote by Congress

• Different types of committees: – Standing – Interim– Conference– joint

Georgia’s legislative committees Standing Committees (permanent)

Ways and Means Appropriations Judiciary

• Handles taxes• Works on the budget• State laws and court

system

Special Committees

• Interim – work on certain issues between session of the legislature

• Conference – 3 senators and 3 representative work together, take their two versions and tries to write one bill that they both can agree upon

• Joint – members from both houses that work on assigned topic.

How a bill becomes a lawSteps:1) Proposal is submitted2) Copies of the bill are given to Congress3) Bill is assigned to a committee in the

House(discussed)4) Committee can hold, vote out, make changes, or

pass/not pass5) Bill is sent to the full house (50% + 1 vote to pass)6) When bill is certified (passed) then sent to the other

chamber, the Senate7) Bill is assigned to a Senate committee (same as 4)8) If both pass in the same form, sent to the governor9) Governor can sign it, take no action (automatic law), or

veto it (General Assembly can over ride veto with 2/3)

Funding Georgia’s Government

• Revenues: sources of income for the state– State funds– Federal funds– Special fees

• Expenditures: plans for spending the funds

• Georgia’s budget must be balanced (state constitution requires it)

Three types of budget

• Original budget: first (fiscal year)

• Amended budget: changes made to balance the budget

• Supplementary budget: when additional funds are available

• 90 % revenue comes from taxes