Florida House of Representatives

The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted in 1968, defines the role of the Legislature and how it is to be constituted. The House is composed of 120 members, each elected from a single-member district with a population of approximately 180,000 residents. Legislative districts are drawn on the basis of population figures, provided by the federal decennial census. Representatives' terms begin immediately upon their election. The Republicans hold a majority in the State House with 83 seats; Democrats are in the minority with 35 seats. Two seats are vacant. Titles Members of the House of Representatives are referred to as representatives. Because this shadows the terminology used to describe members of U.S. House of Representatives, constituents and the news media often refer to members as state representatives to avoid confusion with their federal counterparts. Terms Article III of the Florida Constitution defines the terms for state legislators.