California State Legislature

The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legislature convene at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The California state legislature is one of just ten full-time state legislatures in the United States. The houses are distinguished by the colors of the carpet and trim of each house. The Senate is distinguished by red and the Assembly by the color green, inspired by the House of Lords and House of Commons respectively. The Democratic Party currently holds veto-proof supermajorities in both houses of the California State Legislature. The Assembly consists of 62 Democrats and 18 Republicans, while the Senate is composed of 32 Democrats and 8 Republicans. Except for a brief period from 1995 to 1996, the Assembly has been in Democratic hands since the 1970 election. The Senate has been under Democratic control since 1970, except for a brief period from 1973 to 1975. History 1849 Constitution Article IV of the 1849 California Constitution prescribed that the legislative power of the state is invested in an Assembly and a Senate which was to be designated as the Legislature of the State of California. Sessions were required to be annual and began on the first Monday of the January after the previous election unless if the Governor called an extraordinary session by proclamation. The terms of Assembly members lasted for one year while the terms of Senators lasted for two years. The 1849 Constitution did not prescribe the size of either house, but it did require that the Senate was to be composed of no less than one third but no more than one half of the number of members in the Assembly, with half of the Senators being up for election each year while requiring the legislature to fix the number of Senators and Assemblymembers, with there to be no less than 24 and no more than 36 members in the Assembly until the population of the state reached 100,000 residents, upon which the number of members in the Assembly was to be no less than 36 and no more than 80. Legislative districts were to be apportioned among the "several counties and districts" according to the white population of said areas.