LEGISLATURE
THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY
Senate Officers
STENY H. HOYER, President of the Senate
ROY N. STATEN, Majority Floor Leader
EDWARD J. MASON, Minority Floor Leader
BRUCE C. BEREANO, Administrative
Assistant to the President
ODEN BOWIE, Secretary
HENRY L. HARRISON, Assistant Secretary
W. GARY GRAY, Journal Clerk
MYRON A. CRONHARDT, Assistant
Journal Clerk
FREDERICK L. KELLY, Reading Clerk
MARY C. JOHNSON, Chief Page
MILLARD K, DAUGHERTY, Sergeant-at-Arms
House of Delegates Officers
JOHN HANSON BRISCOE, Speaker
JOHN S. ARNICK, Majority Floor Leader
WILLIAM M. LINTON, Minority Floor
Leader
JAMES P. MAUSE, Chief Clerk
JACQUELINE M. SPELL, Assistant
Chief Clerk
CHARLES H. Cox, Journal Clerk
MARY M, PERRYCLEAR, Assistant
Journal Clerk
WILLIAM L. CORBIN, Reading Clerk
CORNELIA CONNELLY, Page Supervisor
The legislative powers of the State of
Maryland are vested in the General Assem-
bly, which consists of two distinct branches,
the Senate and the House of Delegates
(Const. 1867, Art. Ill, sec. 1). The General
Assembly consists of 188 members with 47
Senators and 141 members of the House of
Delegates. They are elected from 47 legis-
lative districts.
Every Senator or Delegate must be a citi-
zen of the State and a resident of it for at
least one year preceding the date of his
election; and the six months thereof, he
must have resided in his Legislative District.
A Senator must be at least twenty-five years
of age at the time of his election, and a
Delegate at least twenty-one. No member |
of Congress or any person holding a civil
or military office under the United States
Government nor any clergyman or minister
is eligible for election to the General As-
sembly (III, 9, 10, 11). The term of each
Senator and Delegate shall be for four years
from the date of his election (III, 6). The
Governor is required to appoint to any
vacancy that occurs in either House through
death, resignation, or disqualification, a per-
son whose name is submitted to him in writ-
ing by the State Central Committee of the
Legislative District which the person holding
the vacated seat represented and of the party
to which he belonged. The person so ap-
pointed must be affiliated with that party.
All persons so appointed serve for the un-
expired portion of the term (III, 13). Each
House elects its own officers, is judge of the
qualification's and election of its own mem-
bers, and establishes rules for the conduct
of its business.
The General Assembly meets annually.
Sessions begin the second Wednesday in
January and are for a period not longer
than ninety days. The General Assembly
may extend its sessions beyond ninety days,
but not to exceed an additional thirty days
by resolution concurred in by three-fifths
vote of the membership in each House. The
Governor may call special sessions at any
time he deems it necessary (III, 14), but
no single special session may last longer
than thirty days.
The General Assembly must pass at each
regular session a budget bill which contains
the budget for the State government for the
next fiscal year. Upon the passage of the
bill by both Houses, it becomes law without
further action (III, 52),
Under the provisions of a Constitutional
Amendment ratified by the voters in 1972
(Chapter 369, Acts of 1972), the Senate
and the House of Delegates may adopt a
"consent calendar" procedure permitting
bills to be read and voted upon as a single
group on both second and third readings.
affording members of each House reason-
able notice of the bills so placed on each
consent calendar (III, 27, 28).
The General Assembly has power to pass
such laws as are necessary for the welfare |
