Structure of the Legislature.– Every state legislature to-day consists of two houses. At first several states followed the example of the Congress of the Confederation and tried the single-chamber system, but they soon found its disadvantages serious, and substituted legislatures with two houses. The principal advantage of a bicameral legislature is that each house serves as a check upon the haste of the other and thus insures more careful consideration of bills. Nevertheless, proposals have recently been made in several states to establish a single-chambered legislature, and the question was voted on by the electors of Oregon in 1912 and in 1914, and by those of Arizona in 1916.
The lawmaking body popularly known as the legislature is officially so designated in some states, but in others the formal name is the general assembly or the legislative assembly, and in two, Massachusetts and New Hampshire, the colonial title, "general court," is still retained. In all the states the upper house is styled the senate. In most of them the lower chamber is known as the house of representatives, though in a few it is styled the assembly and in three the house of delegates.
Both houses of the state legislature are chosen by the people. The principal differences in their make-up are, that the senate is a smaller body and therefore each senator represents a larger constituency, the senators in many states are chosen for a longer term, and usually the senate is vested with special functions such as the approval of executive appointments to office, and the trial of impeachment cases.
The State Senate.– The size of the senate varies from seventeen members in Delaware to sixty-seven in Minnesota, the average number being about thirty-five. In about two thirds of the states the term of senators is four years; in New Jersey their term is three years; in Massachusetts it is one year; in the remaining states it is two years. In about one third of the states the terms of the senators and the representatives are the same. In some states the senators are divided into classes, and only half of them retire at the same time.
The House of Representatives.– The house of representatives everywhere is a more numerous body than the senate, and in a few states the disproportion is very great. Thus the New Hampshire legislature with a senate of 24 members has a house of representatives of more than 400 members, the largest in any state, a body about as large as the national house of representatives. The Connecticut legislature is composed of a senate of 35 members and a house of representatives of 258 members; Vermont has a senate of 30 members and a house of representatives of 246; Massachusetts has a senate of 40 members and a house of 240. The smallest houses of representatives are those of Delaware and Arizona, each consisting of 35 members.
Apportionment of Senators and Representatives.– Senators and representatives are apportioned among districts, usually on the basis of population. Political units, however, are often taken into consideration, and in some states such units rather than the number of inhabitants are the determining element. Thus it is frequently provided that each county shall be entitled to one senator, though the population of some counties may be many times as great as that of other counties. In some of the New England states the inequalities of representation are so glaring as to constitute a great injustice to the more populous towns. In Connecticut, for example, the members of the lower house are distributed among the towns of the state, without regard to their population. As a result each of the small towns of Union, Hartland, Killingworth, and Colebrook, with an average population of less than 1,000 persons, has two representatives, while New Haven, with 133,000 inhabitants, has only two. Hartford, with about 99,000, has only two, and so has Bridgeport with a population of 102,000, and Waterbury with 73,000. These four cities comprise about one third the population of the state, but they have only one thirty-second part of the membership of the house of representatives. A similar system of representation exists in Vermont and in the senate of Rhode Island.
Moreover, as a result of "gerrymandering" by the political party in control of the legislature the legislative districts are frequently so constructed as to give the majority party more than its fair share of representatives. As a result there are in some states great inequalities of representation among the different counties or legislative districts.
In order to prevent large cities from controlling the legislature and thereby dominating the state, a few constitutions limit their representation in the legislature. Thus in New York it is provided that no county, however populous, shall have more than one third of all the representatives, and a somewhat similar provision is contained in the constitutions of Rhode Island and Pennsylvania.
Minority Representation in the Legislature.– Where there are two political parties in the state, it is worth considering whether some provision should not be made for allowing each party to choose a number of representatives in proportion to its numerical strength, or at least for allowing the weaker party some representation in the legislature. It not infrequently happens under the present system that the majority party in the state succeeds in electing nearly all the representatives, leaving the other party practically without representation, although it may be strong enough to cast hundreds of thousands of votes in the state as a whole. In the Oregon state election of 1906, for example, the Republican party, with only 55 per cent of the voting strength, elected eighty-eight members of the legislature, while the Democratic party, though casting 34 per cent of the total vote, elected only seven representatives.
The present constitution of Illinois contains a clause which makes it possible for the minority party in each of the fifty-one legislative districts into which the state is divided to elect at least one of the three representatives to which the district is entitled. Each voter is allowed three votes, and he may give one vote to each of three candidates, or he may give all three to one candidate, or two to one candidate and one to another. Usually the party having the majority in the district elects two candidates and the minority party one, the voters of the latter party concentrating all their votes on the one candidate.
Legislative Sessions.– In the great majority of states the legislatures hold regular sessions every two years. In New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Georgia, and South Carolina the legislature meets every year in regular session. Alabama is contented with a session once in every four years. In California the session is divided into two parts, the first being devoted exclusively to the introduction of bills. The legislature then takes a recess of a month to enable the members to consult their constituents in regard to the bills introduced, after which it reassembles for the enactment of such legislation as seems to be demanded. In all the states the governor is empowered to call extraordinary sessions for the consideration of special matters of an urgent character.
There is a popular belief that legislatures waste much of their time in the consideration of petty matters, and in many states the constitution either limits the length of the session, – sometimes to forty, fifty, or sixty days, – or provides that where the session is prolonged beyond a certain number of days, the pay of members shall cease. The wisdom of limiting the sessions to such brief periods, however, is doubtful, and several states that once imposed such restrictions have since removed them.
Legislative Compensation.– In all the states, members of the legislature receive pay for their services. This is either in the form of a definite amount per year, term, or session, or so much per day. The largest legislative salaries are those of Illinois ($3,500 per biennial session), New York ($1,500 per year), Massachusetts and Ohio ($1,000 per year), and Pennsylvania ($1,500 per biennial session). In New Hampshire, on the other hand, the salary is only $200 per biennial session, in Connecticut $300, and in South Carolina $200 for each annual session. In thirty states the per diem method of compensation prevails, the amount ranging from three dollars per day, which is the