Senate of Virginia

Senate of Virginia
Type
Type	Upper house
Leadership
President of the Senate	Bill Bolling, (R) since January 14, 2006
President pro Tempore	Charles J. Colgan, (D) since January 9, 2008
Majority Leader	Richard L. Saslaw, (D) since 2007
Minority Leader	Tommy Norment, (R) since November 28, 2007
Structure
Members	40
Political groups	Democratic Party Republican Party
Election
Last election	November 6, 2007
Meeting place
Senate Chamber, Virginia State Capitol, Richmond, VA, U.S.
Website
official website

The Senate of Virginia is the upper house of the Virginia General Assembly. The Senate is composed of 40 Senators representing an equal number of single-member constituent districts. The Senate is presided over by the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia. Prior to the American War of Independence, the upper house of the General Assembly was represented by the Governor's Council, consisting of executive counselors appointed by the Governor of Virginia as advisers.

The Lieutenant Governor presides daily over the Virginia Senate. In the Lieutenant Governor's absence, a president pro tempore presides, usually a powerful member of the majority party. The Senate is equal with the House of Delegates, the lower chamber of the legislature, except that taxation bills must originate in the House, similar to the federal U.S. Congress.

Members of the Virginia Senate are elected every four years by the voters of the several senatorial districts on the Tuesday succeeding the first Monday in November. The last election took place on November 6, 2007. There are no term limits for Senators.

In the 2007 Virginia state elections, the Democratic Party reclaimed the majority in the Senate for the first time since 1999, when the Republican Party took control of the Senate for the first time in history.

Historic Partisan Makeup of the Virginia State Senate

Salary and qualifications

The annual salary for senators is $18,000 per year.^[1] To qualify for office, senators must be at least 21 years of age at the time of the election, residents of the district they represent, and qualified to vote for General Assembly legislators.^[1] The regular session of the General Assembly is 60 days long during even numbered years and 30 days long during odd numbered years, unless extended by a two-thirds vote of both houses.^[1]

Composition

Leadership

Committee chairs and ranking members

The Senate has 11 standing committees.^[2]

Members

Senate seal

The Senate has its own coat of arms designed and granted by the College of Arms in England.^[3][4] The coat of arms also makes up the official seal of the Virginia Senate. It bears no resemblance to the Seal of the Commonwealth of Virginia, which is the seal of the state as a whole.

The seal of the London Company.

The coat of arms adopted January 22, 1981 was designed by the College of Arms and supposedly based on the seal and coat of arms used by the London Company, the royally-chartered English entrepreneurs who funded the European settlement of Virginia. However, other than both devices displaying a quartered shield, there is little resemblance between them.

The Senate's arms have a shield in the center which is divided into four sections by a red cross. In each quarter are smaller shields representing the arms of four countries (England, France, Scotland, and Ireland) that contributed settlers to Virginia's earliest waves of European immigration.^[3][4]

The four coats of arms, a small crest of a crowned female head with unbound hair representing Queen Elizabeth (the Virgin Queen who named Virginia, ^[5] and the dragon (part of the Elizabethan royal seal of England) represent Virginia's European heritage.^[3][4]

An ivory gavel emblazoned on the vertical arm of the red cross represents the Senate as a law making body. The cardinal and dogwood depicted are Virginia's official state bird and tree. The ribbon contains the Latin motto of the Senate, Floreat Senatus Virginiae, which means "May the Senate of Virginia flourish." ^[3][4]

See also

• Virginia state elections, 2007
• Virginia House of Delegates

References

1. ^ ^{a b c} "Virginia State Legislature". VAKids.org. http://www.vakids.org/pubs/Action/virginia_state_legislature_faq.pdf. Retrieved 2008-09-12. 
2. ^ "Legislative Committees". Legislative Information System. Virginia General Assembly. http://leg1.state.va.us/091/com/COM.HTM. Retrieved 2009-01-16. 
3. ^ ^{a b c d} Official Virginia State Senate "Capitol Classroom" site. Accessed November 7, 2007.
4. ^ ^{a b c d} Answers.Com: Virginia State Senate Seal Accessed November 7, 2007.
5. ^ The Queen named Virginia in 1584 by modifying a Native American regional "king" named "Wingina". Stewart, George (1945). Names on the Land: A Historical Account of Place-Naming in the United States. New York: Random House. p. 22. 

External links

• Virginia General Assembly official government website
• Project Vote Smart - State Senate of Virginia
• Official Virginia Emblems Includes a very small version of the Seal of the Senate of the Commonwealth of Virginia