California State Assembly

California State Assembly
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type Lower house
Leadership
Speaker John Pérez, (D)
since March 1, 2010
Majority Leader Charles Calderon, (D)
since March 18, 2010
Minority Leader Martin Garrick, (R)
since February 1, 2010
Structure
Members 80
Political groups Democratic Party
Independent
Republican Party
Election
Last election November 4, 2008
Meeting place
California Assembly chamber.jpg
Assembly Chamber of the California State Capitol, Sacramento
Website
http://www.assembly.ca.gov/

The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. There are 80 members in the Assembly, representing an approximately equal number of constituents, with each district having a population of at least 420,000. Due to the state's large population and relatively small legislature, the Assembly has the largest population per representative ratio of any state legislature lower house and second largest of any legislative lower house in the United States; only the federal U.S. House of Representatives has a larger ratio. Since a referendum in 1990, members of the Assembly are restricted by term limits, confining them to three two-year terms (six years).

The Assembly convenes at the California State Capitol in Sacramento.

Contents

Leadership of the Assembly

The Speaker of the Assembly presides over the Assembly in the chief leadership position, controlling the flow of legislation and committee assignments. The Speaker is elected by the majority party caucus, followed by confirmation of the full Assembly on passage of a floor vote. Other Assembly leaders, such as the majority and minority leaders, are elected by their respective party caucuses according to each party's strength in the chamber.

The current Speaker is Democrat John Pérez (46th-Los Angeles). The Majority Leader is Democrat Charles Calderon (58th-Montebello). The Minority Leader is Republican Martin Garrick (74th-Carlsbad).

Assembly chamber

The chamber's green tones are based on the British House of Commons. The dais rests along a wall shaped like an "E", with its central projection housing the rostrum. Along the cornice appears a portrait of Abraham Lincoln and a quotation from him in Latin: legislatorum est iustas leges condere ("It is the duty of legislators to pass just laws"). Almost every decorating element is identical to the Senate Chamber.

Assembly

Officers

Position Name Party District
Speaker of the House John Pérez Democratic 46th–Los Angeles
Speaker emeritus Karen Bass Democratic 47th–Los Angeles
Speaker pro tempore Fiona Ma Democratic 12th–San Francisco
Majority Leader Charles Calderon Democratic 58th–Montebello
Minority Leader Martin Garrick Republican 74th–Carlsbad
Majority Whip Noreen Evans Democratic 7th–Santa Rosa
Minority Whip Nathan Fletcher Republican 75th–San Diego

Composition

Affiliation Party
(Shading indicates majority caucus)
 Total
Democratic Ind Republican Vacant
End of previous legislature 48 0 32 80 0
Begin 51 0 29 80 0
May 19, 2009[1] 50 79 1
June 23, 2009[2] 49 1
September 9, 2009[3] 28 78 2
September 10, 2009[4] 50 79 1
January 5, 2010[5] 49 78 2
January 29, 2010[6] 29 79 1
Latest voting share 62% 1.3% 36.7%

Sessions

See:

Seating chart

* * * * * * *
Speaker
 * * * * * *
*
Adams Tran * Silva * Knight Garrick * Calderon Davis * Evans Saldaña * Hall Portantino
Fletcher Smyth * Niello Cook * Nestande Hagman * Feuer * Salas Furutani * Hill Arambula
Mendoza Caballero * Huffman Carter * Swanson Eng * de León Ruskin * Solorio Skinner * Torres V. M. Perez
Anderson Miller * Fong Yamada * Brownley Ma * Torlakson Coto * Jeffries Harkey * Hayashi Galgiani
T. Berryhill Gaines * Monning De La Torre * Fuller Logue * Block Norby * Nielsen DeVore * Bradford Lowenthal
Gilmore Villines * Chesbro Huber * Lieu Hernandez * Strickland Blakeslee * Conway B. Berryhill * Nava Ammiano
* * * Jones Beall * Buchanan J. Pérez * Bass Blumenfield * Fuentes Torrico

Candidate qualifications

To run for Member of the Assembly, the candidate must be a United States citizen and a registered voter in the district at the time nomination papers are issued and may not have served three terms in the State Assembly since November 6, 1990. According to Article IV, Section 2(c) of the California Constitution, the candidate must have one year of residency in the legislative district and California residency for three years.

Officers information

The Office of the Sergeant at Arms is the division which protects the assemblymen of the California State Assembly. The chief sergeant at arms is the head of this division. This position has existed since December 15, 1849 when Samuel N. Houston became California's first Sergeant at Arms. Official website of the Sergeant at Arms

See also

References

  1. ↑ Democrat Curren Price (District 51) resigned after being elected to the State Senate
  2. ↑ Juan Arambula (District 31) switched parties from Democratic to Independent. [1]
  3. ↑ Republican Michael D. Duvall (District 72) resigned after inappropriate comments were broadcast. [2]
  4. ↑ Democrat Steven Bradford sworn in to succeed Price
  5. ↑ Democrat Paul Krekorian (District 43) resigned after being elected to the Los Angeles City Council
  6. ↑ Republican Chris Norby sworn in to succeed Duvall

External links

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Current members of the California State Assembly
Speaker: John Pérez (D) • Speaker pro Tempore: Fiona Ma (D) • Majority Leader: Charles Calderon (D) • Minority Leader: Connie Conway (R)
Democratic (52) • Republican (28)
   
  1. Wesley Chesbro (D)
  2. Jim Nielsen (R)
  3. Daniel Logue (R)
  4. Ted Gaines (R)
  5. Richard Pan (D)
  6. Jared Huffman (D)
  7. Michael Allen (D)
  8. Mariko Yamada (D)
  9. Roger Dickinson (D)
  10. Alyson Huber (D)
  11. Susan Bonilla (D)
  12. Fiona Ma (D)
  13. Tom Ammiano (D)
  14. Nancy Skinner  (D)
  15. Joan Buchanan (D)
  16. Sandré Swanson (D)
  1. Cathleen Galgiani (D)
  2. Mary Hayashi (D)
  3. Jerry Hill (D)
  4. Bob Wieckowski (D)
  5. Rich Gordon (D)
  6. Paul Fong (D)
  7. Nora Campos (D)
  8. Jim Beall (D)
  9. Kristin Olsen (R)
  10. Bill Berryhill (R)
  11. Bill Monning (D)
  12. Luis Alejo (D)
  13. Linda Halderman (R)
  14. David Valadao (R)
  15. Henry Perea (D)
  16. Shannon Grove (R)
  1. Katcho Achadjian (R)
  2. Connie Conway (R)
  3. Das Williams (D)
  4. Stephen Knight (R)
  5. Jeff Gorell (R)
  6. Cameron Smyth (R)
  7. Felipe Fuentes (D)
  8. Bob Blumenfield (D)
  9. Julia Brownley (D)
  10. Mike Feuer (D)
  11. Mike Gatto (D)
  12. Anthony Portantino (D)
  13. Gil Cedillo (D)
  14. John Pérez (D)
  15. Holly Mitchell (D)
  16. Mike Davis (D)
  1. Mike Eng (D)
  2. Ricardo Lara (D)
  3. Steven Bradford (D)
  4. Isadore Hall (D)
  5. Betsy Butler (D)
  6. Bonnie Lowenthal (D)
  7. Warren Furutani (D)
  8. Tony Mendoza (D)
  9. Roger Hernandez (D)
  10. Charles Calderon (D)
  11. Tim Donnelly (R)
  12. Curt Hagman (R)
  13. Norma Torres (D)
  14. Wilmer Carter (D)
  15. Mike Morrell (R)
  16. Brian Nestande (R)
  1. Paul Cook (R)
  2. Kevin Jeffries (R)
  3. Jim Silva (R)
  4. Allan Mansoor (R)
  5. Jose Solorio (D)
  6. Donald Wagner (R)
  7. Jeff Miller (R)
  8. Chris Norby (R)
  9. Diane Harkey (R)
  10. Martin Garrick (R)
  11. Nathan Fletcher (R)
  12. Toni Atkins (D)
  13. Brian Jones (R)
  14. Marty Block (D)
  15. Ben Hueso (D)
  16. Manuel Perez (D)
See also: California State Legislature • California State Senate