Wyoming Senate
Wyoming State Senate | |
---|---|
Wyoming State Legislature | |
Type | |
Type | |
Term limits | None |
History | |
New session started | January 13, 2015 |
Leadership | |
Vice President of the Senate | |
Majority Leader | |
Minority Leader | |
Structure | |
Seats | 30 |
Political groups |
Governing party Opposition party |
Length of term | 4 years |
Authority | Article 3, Wyoming Constitution |
Salary | $150/day + per diem |
Elections | |
Last election |
November 4, 2014 (15 seats) |
Next election |
November 1, 2016 (15 seats) |
Redistricting | Legislative Control |
Meeting place | |
State Senate Chamber Wyoming State Capitol Cheyenne, Wyoming | |
Website | |
Wyoming State Legislature |
The Wyoming Senate is the upper house of the Wyoming State Legislature. There are 30 Senators in the Senate, representing an equal number of constituencies across Wyoming, each with a population of at least 17,000. The Senate meets at the Wyoming State Capitol in Cheyenne.
Members of the Senate serve four year terms without term limits. Term limits were declared unconstitutional by the Wyoming Supreme Court in 2004, overturning a decade-old law that had restricted Senators to three terms (twelve years).
Like other upper houses of state and territorial legislatures and the federal U.S. Senate, the Wyoming Senate can confirm or reject gubernatorial appointments to the state cabinet, commissions, boards, or justices to the Wyoming Supreme Court.
Composition of the Senate
Affiliation | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus) |
Total | ||
---|---|---|---|---|
Republican | Democratic | Vacant | ||
End of 59th Legislature | 23 | 7 | 30 | 0 |
End of 60th Legislature | 23 | 7 | 30 | 0 |
End of 61st Legislature | 26 | 4 | 30 | 0 |
End of 62nd Legislature | 26 | 4 | 30 | 0 |
Beginning of 63rd Legislature | 26 | 4 | 30 | 0 |
Latest voting share | 86.7% | 13.3% |
Leadership
Wyoming, along with Arizona, Maine, and Oregon, is one of the four U.S. states to have abolished the Office of the Lieutenant Governor, a position which for most upper houses of state legislatures and indeed for the U.S. Congress (with the Vice President) is the head of the legislative body. Instead, a separate position of Senate President is in place, removed from the Wyoming executive branch.
The current Senate President is Republican Phil Nicholas of District 10 (Laramie).
Position | Name | Party |
---|---|---|
President of the Senate | Phil Nicholas | Republican |
Majority Leader | Eli Bebout | Republican |
Senate Vice President | Drew Perkins | Republican |
Minority Leader | Chris Rothfuss | Democratic |
Minority Whip | Bernadine Craft | Democratic |
Members of the Wyoming Senate
District | Representative | Party | Residence | Counties Represented |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Ogden Driskill | Republican | Devils Tower | Converse, Crook, Goshen, Niobrara, Weston |
2 | Jim Anderson | Republican | Glenrock | Converse, Platte |
3 | Curt Meier | Republican | LaGrange | Goshen, Platte |
4 | Tony Ross | Republican | Cheyenne | Laramie |
5 | Fred Emerich | Republican | Cheyenne | Laramie |
6 | Wayne Johnson | Republican | Cheyenne | Laramie |
7 | Stephan Pappas | Republican | Cheyenne | Laramie |
8 | Floyd Esquibel | Democratic | Cheyenne | Laramie |
9 | Chris Rothfuss | Democratic | Laramie | Albany |
10 | Phil Nicholas | Republican | Laramie | Albany |
11 | Larry S. Hicks | Republican | Baggs | Albany, Carbon |
12 | Bernadine Craft | Democratic | Rock Springs | Fremont, Sweetwater |
13 | John Hastert | Democratic | Green River | Sweetwater |
14 | Stan Cooper | Republican | Kemmerer | Lincoln, Sublette, Sweetwater, Uinta |
15 | Paul Barnard | Republican | Evanston | Uinta |
16 | Dan Dockstader | Republican | Afton | Lincoln, Sublette, Teton |
17 | Leland Christensen | Republican | Alta | Fremont, Teton |
18 | Hank Coe | Republican | Cody | Park |
19 | R. Ray Peterson | Republican | Cowley | Big Horn, Park |
20 | Gerald Geis | Republican | Worland | Big Horn, Hot Springs, Park, Washakie |
21 | Bruce Burns | Republican | Sheridan | Sheridan |
22 | Dave Kinskey | Republican | Sheridan | Sheridan, Johnson |
23 | Jeff Wasserburger | Republican | Gillette | Campbell |
24 | Michael Von Flatern | Republican | Gillette | Campbell |
25 | Cale Case | Republican | Lander | Fremont |
26 | Eli Bebout | Republican | Riverton | Fremont |
27 | Bill Landen | Republican | Casper | Natrona |
28 | James Lee Anderson | Republican | Casper | Natrona |
29 | Drew Perkins | Republican | Casper | Natrona |
30 | Charles Scott | Republican | Casper | Natrona |
History
Dora McGrath became the first woman elected to the Wyoming State Senate, in 1930.[1][2]
Harriet Elizabeth Byrd was the first African-American to serve in the Wyoming State Senate from 1988 to 1992, and was also the first African-American to serve in the Wyoming House of Representatives from 1981 to 1988.[3][4]
See also
References
- ↑ "Wyoming Women in the Legislature" (PDF). Historical Information. Wyoming: Wyoming Ssecretary of State Office. 2010. Retrieved 29 March 2010.
- ↑ Associated Press (January 19, 1931). "Nation's 147 Women Legislators Active". The Palm Beach Post. Retrieved March 29, 2010.("In Wyoming, where women have been voting since 1869, Mrs. Dora McGrath is the first woman ever elected to the senate. Following her election last September she remarked that rather than go down to the legislature she would prefer to 'stay home and win prizes for my apple pies.'")
- ↑ University of Wyoming-UW Profiles Harriet Elizabeth "Liz" Byrd
- ↑ "Liz" Byrd, first black woman in Wyoming House, dies at 88"
External links
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Coordinates: 41°08′25″N 104°49′13″W / 41.14028°N 104.82028°W
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