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73-531: The New Hampshire Senate is the upper house of the New Hampshire General Court , alongside the lower New Hampshire House of Representatives . The Senate has been meeting since 1784. The Senate consists of 24 members representing Senate districts based on population. There are 14 Republicans and 10 Democrats currently serving in the Senate. Under the 1776 Constitution , two chambers of

146-483: A Senate and a Chamber of Deputies : Buenos Aires , Catamarca , Corrientes , Entre Ríos , Mendoza , Salta , San Luis (since 1987) and Santa Fe . Tucumán and Córdoba changed to unicameral systems in 1990 and 2001 respectively. Santiago del Estero changed to a bicameral legislature in 1884, but changed back to a unicameral system in 1903. When the Australian states were founded as British colonies in

219-484: A concurrent majority —the approval of a majority of members in each of the chambers of the legislature. When this is the case, the legislature may be called an example of perfect bicameralism . However, in many parliamentary and semi-presidential systems, the house to which the executive is responsible (e.g. House of Commons of the UK and National Assembly of France ) can overrule the other house (e.g. House of Lords of

292-670: A blend or hybrid of the Westminster and the United States systems of government , especially since the Australian Senate is a powerful upper house like the U.S. Senate; this notion is expressed in the nickname "the Washminster mutation". Unlike upper houses in most Westminster parliamentary systems , the Australian Senate is vested with significant power, including the capacity to block legislation initiated by

365-539: A large elected lower house, and (unlike Britain) a smaller upper house. The Founding Fathers of the United States also favoured a bicameral legislature. The idea was to have the Senate be wealthier and wiser. Benjamin Rush saw this though, and noted that "this type of dominion is almost always connected with opulence". The Senate was created to be a stabilising force, not elected by mass electors, but selected by

438-536: A majority-vote requirement for State Senate elections. If no candidate won a majority of the vote, a vacancy was declared and the full General Court would pick from the top two candidates. Similarly, if a vacancy occurred while the legislature was in session, the General Court would pick the successor from the top two remaining candidates. The constitution was amended in 1889 to provide that session vacancies would be filled by special elections and in 1912 to abolish

511-632: A more democratic proportional legislature. For states considering a different constitutional arrangement that may shift power to new groupings, bicameralism could be demanded by currently hegemonic groups who would otherwise prevent any structural shift (e.g. military dictatorships, aristocracies). The growing awareness of the complexity of the notion of representation and the multi-functional nature of modern legislatures may be affording incipient new rationales for second chambers, though these do generally remain contested institutions in ways that first chambers are not. An example of political controversy regarding

584-530: A relevant field of legislation. Though the European Union has a highly unusual character in terms of legislature, one could say that the closest point of equivalency lies within bicameral legislatures. The European Union is considered neither a country nor a state, but it enjoys the power to address national Governments in many areas. In a few countries, bicameralism involves the juxtaposition of democratic and aristocratic elements. The best known example

657-520: A second chamber has been the debate over the powers of the Senate of Canada or the election of the Senate of France . Bicameral legislatures as a result have been trending down for some time with unicameral , proportional legislatures seen as more democratic and effective. The relationship between the two chambers varies: in some cases, they have equal power, while in others, one chamber (the directly elected lower house with proportional representation )

730-455: A single group. As of 2022 , roughly 40% of the world's national legislatures are bicameral, while unicameralism represents 60% nationally and much more at the subnational level. Often, the members of the two chambers are elected or selected by different methods, which vary from jurisdiction to jurisdiction. This can often lead to the two chambers having very different compositions of members. Enactment of primary legislation often requires

803-536: Is a bicameral legislative body. The House of Representatives has 98 delegates, elected for four-year terms by proportional representation. The House of Peoples has 58 members, 17 delegates from among each of the constituent peoples of the Federation, and 7 delegates from among the other peoples. Republika Srpska , the other entity, has a unicameral parliament, known as the National Assembly , but there

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876-531: Is also a Council of Peoples who is de facto the other legislative house. Only 6 of the 36 states or Union Territories of India have bicameral legislatures, Andhra Pradesh , Bihar , Karnataka , Maharashtra , Telangana , and Uttar Pradesh , while the rest all have unicameral legislatures. The lower houses are called Legislative Assemblies , and their members are elected by universal adult suffrage from single-member constituencies in state elections, which are normally held every five years called Vidhana Sabha. In

949-408: Is appointed when the two chambers cannot agree on the same wording of a proposal, and consists of a small number of legislators from each chamber. This tends to place much power in the hands of only a small number of legislators. Whatever legislation, if any, the conference committee finalizes is presented in an unamendable "take-it-or-leave-it" manner by both chambers. During his term as governor of

1022-535: Is called the House of Representatives and the upper house is named the Senate . As of 31 August 2017, the lower house has 151 members, each elected from single-member constituencies, known as electoral divisions (commonly referred to as "electorates" or "seats") using full-preference instant-runoff voting . This tends to lead to the chamber being dominated by two major groups, the Liberal / National Coalition and

1095-449: Is clearly superior in its powers. The first tends to be the case in federal systems and those with presidential governments. The second tends to be the case in unitary states with parliamentary systems . There are two streams of thought: critics believe bicameralism makes meaningful political reforms more difficult to achieve and increases the risk of gridlock—particularly in cases where both chambers have similar powers—while proponents argue

1168-590: Is democratically elected every four years (constitutionally up to five years). In contrast, in Canada's upper house , Senators are appointed to serve until age 75 by the Governor General on the advice of the Prime Minister through an Independent Advisory Board as of 2016. The government (i.e. executive) is responsible to and must maintain the confidence of the elected House of Commons. Although

1241-466: Is elected using proportional representation while the lower house uses Instant-runoff voting in single member electorates. This is reversed in the state of Tasmania , where proportional representation is used for the lower house and single member electorates for the upper house . The Legislature of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina , one of the two entities of Bosnia and Herzegovina ,

1314-548: Is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of New Hampshire . The lower house is the New Hampshire House of Representatives with 400 members. The upper house is the New Hampshire Senate with 24 members. This ratio of 1 Senate seat for every 16.67 House seats makes New Hampshire's ratio of upper house to lower house seats the largest in the country. During the 2018–2020 session,

1387-576: Is the British House of Lords , which includes a number of hereditary peers . The House of Lords is a vestige of the aristocratic system that once predominated in British politics, while the other house, the House of Commons , is entirely elected. Over the years, some have proposed reforms to the House of Lords, some of which have been at least partly successful. The House of Lords Act 1999 limited

1460-606: The Autonomous Communities to reform it into a strictly territorial chamber. The European Union maintains a somewhat close to bicameral legislative system consisting of the European Parliament , which is elected in elections on the basis of universal suffrage, and the Council of the European Union , which consists of one representative for each government of member countries, who are competent for

1533-554: The British Parliament has been the model for most other parliamentary systems, and its Acts have created many other parliaments. The origins of British bicameralism can be traced to 1341, when the Commons met separately from the nobility and clergy for the first time, creating what was effectively an Upper Chamber and a Lower Chamber, with the knights and burgesses sitting in the latter. This Upper Chamber became known as

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1606-589: The Crossbenches and given a life peerage. Until 2009, 12 Lords of Appeal in Ordinary sat in the House as the highest court in the land; they subsequently became justices of the newly created Supreme Court of the United Kingdom . As of 16 February 2021, 803 people sit in the House of Lords, with 92 Hereditary Peers, 26 Lords Spiritual and 685 Life Peers. Membership is not fixed and decreases only on

1679-759: The Great Compromise , the Founding Fathers invented a new rationale for bicameralism in which the Senate had an equal number of delegates per state, and the House had representatives by relative populations. A formidable sinister interest may always obtain the complete command of a dominant assembly by some chance and for a moment, and it is therefore of great use to have a second chamber of an opposite sort, differently composed, in which that interest in all likelihood will not rule. Federal states have often adopted it as an awkward compromise between existing power held equally by each state or territory and

1752-640: The House of Lords from 1544 onward, and the Lower Chamber became known as the House of Commons , collectively known as the Houses of Parliament . Many nations with parliaments have to some degree emulated the British "three-tier" model. Most countries in Europe and the Commonwealth have similarly organised parliaments with a largely ceremonial head of state who formally opens and closes parliament,

1825-608: The Labor Party . The government of the day must achieve the confidence of this House to gain and hold power. The upper house, the Senate, is also popularly elected, under the single transferable vote system of proportional representation . There are a total of 76 senators: 12 senators are elected from each of the 6 Australian states (regardless of population) and 2 from each of the 2 autonomous internal territories (the Australian Capital Territory and

1898-666: The Northern Territory ). This makes the total number 76, i.e. 6×12 + 2×2. In many respects, Australia is a unique hybrid with influences from the United States Constitution , as well as from the traditions and conventions of the Westminster system and some indigenous features. Australia is exceptional in this sense because the government faces a fully elected upper house, the Senate , which must be willing to pass all its legislation. Although only

1971-413: The United States , link their bicameral systems to their federal political structure. In the United States, Australia, Mexico, Brazil, and Nepal for example, each state or province is given the same number of seats in one of the houses of the legislature, despite variance between the populations of the states or provinces. The bicameral Parliament of Australia consists of two Houses: the lower house

2044-656: The government . Another similar situation are cross-community votes in Northern Ireland when the petition of concern procedure is invoked. Norway had a kind of semi-bicameral legislature with two chambers, or departments, within the same elected body, the Storting . These were called the Lagting and the Odelsting, and were abolished after the general election of 2009. According to Morten Søberg , there

2117-477: The governor-general : however, this is generally considered a last resort and is a highly controversial decision to take, given the conflict between the traditional concept of confidence as derived from the lower house and the ability of the Senate to block supply (see 1975 Australian constitutional crisis ). Many political scientists have held that the Australian system of government was consciously devised as

2190-413: The 19th century, they each had a bicameral Parliament. The lower house was traditionally elected based on the one-vote-one-value principle, with universal male suffrage, later expanded to women, whereas the upper house was either appointed on the advice of the government or elected, with a strong bias towards country voters and landowners. After Federation , these became the state Parliaments. In Queensland,

2263-653: The Appointment Commission (the independent body that vets non-partisan peers, typically from academia, business or culture) or by Dissolution Honours, which take place at the end of every Parliamentary term when leaving MPs may be offered a seat to keep their institutional memory. It is traditional to offer a peerage to every outgoing Speaker of the House of Commons. Further reform of the Lords has been proposed; however, no proposed reforms have been able to achieve public consensus or government support. Members of

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2336-583: The Commons. The Senate's power to investigate issues of concern to Canada can raise their profile (sometimes sharply) on voters' political agendas. In German, Indian, and Pakistani systems, the upper houses (the Bundesrat , the Rajya Sabha , and the Senate respectively) are even more closely linked with the federal system, being appointed or elected directly by the governments or legislatures of each German or Indian state , or Pakistani province . This

2409-479: The Framers to grant the Senate prerogatives in foreign policy, an area where steadiness, discretion, and caution were deemed especially important. State legislators chose the Senate, and senators had to possess significant property to be deemed worthy and sensible enough for the position. In 1913, the 17th Amendment passed, which mandated choosing Senators by popular vote rather than State legislatures. As part of

2482-493: The German Bundesrat , the various Länder have between three and six votes; thus, while the less populated states have a lower weight, they still have a stronger voting power than would be the case in a system based proportionately on population, as the most populous Land currently has about 27 times the population of the least populous . The Indian upper house does not have the states represented equally, but on

2555-479: The House and the Senate. Pew Research Center in 2014 reported New Hampshire had one of the nation's smallest statehouse press corps, with five full-time reporters and an additional nine part-time reporters. Bicameral Bicameralism is a type of legislature that is divided into two separate assemblies , chambers, or houses, known as a bicameral legislature . Bicameralism is distinguished from unicameralism , in which all members deliberate and vote as

2628-624: The House of Lords all have an aristocratic title, or are from the Clergy . 26 Archbishops and Bishops of the Church of England sit as Lords Spiritual (the Archbishop of Canterbury , Archbishop of York , the Bishop of London , the Bishop of Durham , the Bishop of Winchester and the next 21 longest-serving Bishops). It is usual that retiring Archbishops, and certain other Bishops, are appointed to

2701-485: The House to sit as representative peers sit for life; when a representative peer dies, there is a by-election to fill the vacancy. The power of the House of Lords to block legislation is curtailed by the Parliament Acts 1911 and 1949 . Peers can introduce bills except Money Bills, and all legislation must be passed by both Houses of Parliament . If not passed within two sessions, the House of Commons can override

2774-514: The Lords' delay by invoking the Parliament Act . Certain legislation, however, must be approved by both Houses without being forced by the Commons under the Parliament Act . These include any bill that would extend the time length of a Parliament, private bills, bills sent to the House of Lords less than one month before the end of a session, and bills that originated in the House of Lords. Life Peers are appointed either by recommendation of

2847-726: The New Hampshire General Court was controlled by Democrats , with a 14–10 majority in the Senate and a 230–156–1 majority in the House, with 13 vacant seats at the end of the session. On November 3, 2020, Republicans won control of the New Hampshire General Court by winning a 14–10 majority in the Senate and a 213–187 majority in the House. The General Court convenes in the New Hampshire State House in downtown Concord . The State House opened in 1819. The House of Representatives continues to meet in its original chambers, making Representatives Hall

2920-452: The State legislators. Senators would be more knowledgeable and more deliberate—a sort of republican nobility—and a counter to what James Madison saw as the "fickleness and passion" that could absorb the House. He noted further that "The use of the Senate is to consist in its proceeding with more coolness, with more system and with more wisdom, than the popular branch." Madison's argument led

2993-502: The State of Minnesota , Jesse Ventura proposed converting the Minnesotan legislature to a single chamber with proportional representation , as a reform that he felt would solve many legislative difficulties and impinge upon legislative corruption. In his book on political issues, Do I Stand Alone? , Ventura argued that bicameral legislatures for provincial and local areas were excessive and unnecessary, and discussed unicameralism as

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3066-519: The UK and Senate of France) and may be regarded as an example of imperfect bicameralism . Some legislatures lie in between these two positions, with one house able to overrule the other only under certain circumstances. The British Parliament is often referred to as the " Mother of Parliaments " (in fact a misquotation of John Bright , who remarked in 1865 that "England is the Mother of Parliaments") because

3139-535: The appointed upper house was abolished in 1922, while in New South Wales there were similar attempts at abolition, before the upper house was reformed in the 1970s to provide for direct election. Beginning in the 1970s, Australian states (except Queensland, which is unicameral) began to reform their upper houses to introduce proportional representation in line with the Federal Senate. The first

3212-568: The basis of their population. There is also bicameralism in countries that are not federations, but have upper houses with representation on a territorial basis. For example, in South Africa, the National Council of Provinces (and before 1997, the Senate ) has its members chosen by each province 's legislature. In Spain, the Senate functions as a de facto territorially based upper house, and there has been some pressure from

3285-591: The chambers, it may happen that a Government has a strong majority (usually) in the Chamber of Deputies and a weak one (or no majority at all) in the Senate. This has led sometimes to legislative deadlocks, and has caused instability in the Italian Government. In some of these countries, the upper house is indirectly elected. Members of France's Senate and Ireland's Seanad Éireann are chosen by electoral colleges . In Ireland, it consists of members of

3358-714: The death, retirement or resignation of a peer. Another example of aristocratic bicameralism was the Japanese House of Peers , abolished after World War II and replaced with the present House of Councillors . Many unitary states like Italy , France , the Netherlands , the Philippines , the Czech Republic , the Republic of Ireland and Romania have bicameral systems. In countries such as these,

3431-582: The government in the House of Representatives. This block can however be overridden in a joint sitting after a double dissolution election, at which the House of Representatives has the dominant numbers.As a result of proportional representation, the chamber features a multitude of parties vying for power. The governing party in the lower house rarely has a majority in the Senate, and so generally needs to negotiate with other parties and independents to get legislation passed. This variant of bicameralism has also been further explored by Tarunabh Khaitan, who coined

3504-665: The government. The passage of these motions, bills or amendments to government motions or bills requires double majority in both groups simultaneously. (Before 2004, when elections to the Legislative Council from the Election Committee was abolished, members returned through the Election Committee vote with members returned from geographical constituencies.) The double majority requirement does not apply to motions, bills and amendments introduced by

3577-672: The grounds that the votes were not cast in the candidates' "Christian names." They instead issued summonses to the Democratic candidates, who were seated by the Senate. The 7–5 Democratic majority then rejected a Republican challenge to the Democrats' qualifications, and the Republican minority sought an advisory opinion from the New Hampshire Supreme Court . The state supreme court concluded that "the action of

3650-630: The head of the hall. As of February 2024 , the composition of the House of Representatives is: The New Hampshire Senate has been meeting since 1784. It consists of 24 members representing Senate districts based on population. As of the 2022–23 legislative session, there will be 14 Republicans and 10 Democrats in the Senate. The New Hampshire State House press covers the New Hampshire State House for newspapers , news services and other news-gathering operations. The New Hampshire General Court website has calendars and journals for both

3723-405: The legislature were formed: the House of Assembly and the Council , the predecessors to the modern-day House of Representatives and Senate. The Council was originally elected by the House and was composed of twelve members: five from Rockingham County ; two each from Cheshire County , Hillsborough County , and Strafford County ; and one from Grafton County . In 1784, the state constitution

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3796-625: The lower house, local councillors, the Taoiseach , and graduates of selected universities, while the Netherlands' Senate is chosen by members of provincial assemblies (who, in turn, are directly elected). In Hong Kong , members of the unicameral Legislative Council returned from the democratically elected geographical constituencies and partially democratic functional constituencies are required to vote separately since 1998 on motions, bills or amendments to government bills not introduced by

3869-493: The lower house, the House of Representatives, can hold a no-confidence vote against the government, in practice the support of the Senate is also necessary in order to govern. The Senate maintains the ability similar to that held by the British House of Lords, prior to the enactment of the Parliament Act 1911 , to block supply against the government of the day. A government that is unable to obtain supply can be dismissed by

3942-493: The majority-vote requirement altogether. Between 1784 and 1912, more than 200 state senate vacancies were filled by a full vote of the legislature. During some years, nearly 60% of the State Senate was selected through this method, which frequently determined which party controlled the Senate majority. An analysis of the vacancy-filling patterns shows that the General Court was overwhelmingly likely to fill vacancies based on

4015-430: The merits of the " checks and balances " provided by the bicameral model, which they believe help prevent ill-considered legislation. Formal communication between houses is by various methods, including: Some countries, such as Argentina , Australia , Austria , Belgium , Bosnia and Herzegovina , Brazil , Canada , Germany , India , Malaysia , Mexico , Nepal , Nigeria , Pakistan , Russia , Switzerland , and

4088-676: The number of hereditary peers (as opposed to life peers , appointed by the Monarch on the advice of the Prime Minister ) to 92, down from around 700. Of these 92, one is the Earl Marshal , a hereditary office always held by the Duke of Norfolk , one is the Lord Great Chamberlain , a hereditary office held by turns, currently by Baron Carrington , and the other 90 are elected by all sitting peers . Hereditary peers elected by

4161-472: The oldest chamber in the United States still in continuous legislative use. When numbered seats were installed in Representatives Hall, the number thirteen was purposely omitted in deference to triskaidekaphobia . The annual pay for legislators is set by law at $ 100.00. The House of Representatives consists of 400 members coming from 204 districts across the state created from divisions of

4234-458: The party affiliation of the eligible candidates. In cases in which session vacancies were filled, the General Court occasionally selected third-party or independent candidates, who received no more than a handful of votes, over opposing major-party candidates. The predictability of the vacancy-filling procedures sometimes led to conflict. In 1875, outgoing Democratic Governor James A. Weston exercised his constitutional power to issue "summonses" to

4307-513: The phrase "Moderated Parliamentarism" to describe a parliamentary system with several distinctive features: mixed bicameralism, moderated (but distinct) electoral systems for each chamber, weighted multipartisanship, asynchronous electoral schedules, and deadlock resolution through conference committees. Canada's elected lower house, the House of Commons , comprises Members of Parliament (MPs) from single-member "ridings" based mainly on population (updated every 10 years using Census data). The Commons

4380-470: The senate is final ," and affirmed the seating of the Senators. In 1912, the voters approved a constitutional amendment removing the majority-vote requirement for all elections. That year, however, the gubernatorial election failed to produce a majority winner, as did four State Senate elections. After concluding that the amendment applied after the election, not to it, the General Court proceeded to fill

4453-654: The six states with bicameral legislatures, the upper house is called the Legislative Council ( Vidhan Parishad ) or Vidhana Parishat, one-third of whose members are elected every two years. Members of the Legislative Council are elected in various ways: From 1956 to 1958 the Andhra Pradesh Legislature was unicameral. In 1958, when the State Legislative Council was formed, it became bicameral until 1 June 1985 when it

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4526-403: The state's counties, each making up about 3,000 residents for every one legislator. Unlike many legislative chambers, there is no central "aisle" to cross. Instead, there are five sections with aisles between them. Party seating location is not enforced, as seating is often decided on the personal preference of the legislator, except in the case of the sixth section, which is the speaker's seat at

4599-404: The two chambers are composed: the deputies, in fact, are elected on a nationwide basis, whilst the members of the Senate are elected on a regional basis: this may lead to different majorities among the two chambers because, for example, a party may be the first nationally but second or third in some regions. Considering that in the Italian Republic the Government needs to win confidence votes in both

4672-418: The two chambers formally have many of the same powers, this accountability clearly makes the Commons dominant—determining which party is in power, approving its proposed budget, and (largely) the laws enacted. The Senate primarily acts as a chamber of revision: it rarely rejects bills passed by the Commons but does regularly amend them; such amendments respect each bill's purpose, so they are usually acceptable to

4745-406: The upper house generally focuses on scrutinizing and possibly vetoing the decisions of the lower house. On the other hand, in Italy the Parliament consists of two chambers that have the same role and power: the Senate (Senate of the Republic, commonly considered the upper house ) and the Chamber of Deputies (considered the lower house ). The main difference among the two chambers is the way

4818-433: The upper houses of their state legislatures . During the 1930s, the legislature of the State of Nebraska was reduced from bicameral to unicameral with the 43 members that once comprised that state's Senate. One of the arguments used to sell the idea at the time to Nebraska voters was that by adopting a unicameral system, the perceived evils of the " conference committee " process would be eliminated. A conference committee

4891-503: The vacancies. An unexpected alliance between Democrats and Progressive Republicans led to Democrat Samuel D. Felker elected Governor, Henry F. Hollis elected to the U.S. Senate, four Democrats selected to fill the State Senate vacancies, and a Progressive Republican as the Speaker of the House. 43°12′28.6″N 71°32′09.6″W  /  43.207944°N 71.536000°W  / 43.207944; -71.536000 New Hampshire General Court The General Court of New Hampshire

4964-481: The winners of legislative elections to avoid the General Court filling two vacancies. In two districts, Democratic candidates won pluralities, but not majorities; the narrow Republican majority in the State House likely meant that the Republican candidates would be elected. The Senate was tied 5–5, so the allocation of the two contested seats would determine control. Weston, along with the Executive Council , invalidated votes cast for Republican Senators in two districts on

5037-565: Was a related system in the 1798 constitution of the Batavian Republic . In some countries with federal systems, individual states (like those of the United States , Argentina , Australia and India ) may also have bicameral legislatures. A few such states as Nebraska in the U.S., Queensland in Australia, Bavaria in Germany, and Tucumán and Córdoba in Argentina have later adopted unicameral systems. ( Brazilian states and Canadian provinces all abolished upper houses). Only 8 out of 24 provinces still have bicameral legislatures, with

5110-494: Was abolished. This continued until March 2007 when the State Legislative Council was reestablished and elections were held for its seats. In Tamil Nadu , a resolution was passed on 14 May 1986 and the state's Legislative Council was dissolved on 1 November 1986. Again on 12 April 2010, a resolution was passed to reestablish the council, but was ultimately unsuccessful. Similarly, the states of Assam , Jammu and Kashmir , Madhya Pradesh , Punjab , and West Bengal have also dissolved

5183-409: Was also the case in the United States before the Seventeenth Amendment was adopted. Because of this coupling to the executive branch , German legal doctrine does not treat the Bundesrat as the second chamber of a bicameral system formally. Rather, it sees the Bundesrat and the Bundestag as independent constitutional bodies. Only the directly elected Bundestag is considered the parliament. In

5256-399: Was entirely rewritten, and the upper chamber was reconstituted as the popularly elected Senate . It was originally composed of twelve members to be elected from multi-member districts drawn by the legislature, but this was increased to twenty-four members in 1879. Until districts were drawn, the apportionment of the Senate was continued from the 1776 Constitution. This constitution also imposed

5329-846: Was the South Australian Legislative Council in 1973, which initially used a party list system (replaced with STV in 1982), followed by the Single Transferable Vote being introduced for the New South Wales Legislative Council in 1978, the Western Australian Legislative Council in 1987 and the Victorian Legislative Council in 2003. Nowadays, the upper house both federally and in most states

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