Tennessee Senate: Information from Answers.com

Tennessee Senate
Type
Type	Upper house
Leadership
Speaker of the Senate	Ron Ramsey, (R) since January 2007
Majority Leader	Mark Norris, (R) since January 2007
Minority Leader	Jim Kyle, (D) since January 2007
Structure
Members	33
Political groups	Republican Party Democratic Party
Election
Last election	November 4, 2008
Meeting place

Senate Chamber, Tennessee State Capitol, Nashville, TN, U.S.
Website
http://www.capitol.tn.gov/senate/

The Tennessee Senate is the upper house of the Tennessee state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly.

The Tennessee Senate, according to the state constitution of 1870, is composed of 33 members, one-third the size of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Senators are to be elected from districts of substantially equal population. According to the constitution a county is not to be joined to a portion of another county for purposes of creating a district; this provision has been overridden by the rulings of the Supreme Court of the United States in Baker v. Carr (369 US 182 1962) and Reynolds v. Sims (337 U.S. 356 1964) The Tennessee constitution has been amended to allow that if these rulings are ever changed or reversed, a referendum may be held to allow the senate districts to be drawn on a basis other than substantially equal population.

Until 1966, Tennessee state senators served two-year terms. That year the system was changed, by constitutional amendment, to allow four-year terms. In that year, senators in even-numbered districts were elected to two-year terms and those in odd-numbered districts were elected to four-year terms. This created a staggered system in which only half of the senate is up for election at any one time. Districts are to be sequentially and consecutively numbered; the scheme basically runs from east to west and north to south.

Republicans attained an elected majority in the Senate in the 104th General Assembly (2005-2006) for the first time since Reconstruction; a brief majority in the 1990s was the result of two outgoing senators switching parties.

1 Senate Speaker Duties
2 Make up of Tennessee Senate, 106th General Assembly (2009-2010)
3 Senate Leadership and Members
4 Senate Standing Committee Chairs
5 References
6 External links

Senate Speaker Duties

The senate elects one of its own members as Speaker; the Speaker automatically becomes Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee. The current Speaker of the Senate and Lieutenant Governor is Ron Ramsey, who was elected to the position in 2007. One of the main duties of the speaker is to preside over the senate and make senate committee appointments. The speaker also controls staffing and office space with senate staff. Speaker serves as an ex-officio member of all standing committees.

Make up of Tennessee Senate, 106th General Assembly (2009-2010)

Affiliation	Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)			Total

	Republican	Democratic	Independent		Vacant
End of previous legislature	16	16	1	33	0

Begin	19	14	0	33	0
August 10, 2009^[1]	18			32	1
December 1, 2009^[2]	19			33	0
Latest voting share	57.6%	42.4%

Senate Leadership and Members

Senate Leaders

Majority Leadership (R)

Speaker of the Senate/ Lieutenant Governor: Ron Ramsey
Speaker Pro Tempore: Jamie Woodson
Deputy Speaker: Bill Ketron
Floor Leader: Mark Norris
Caucus Chairwoman: Diane Black
Caucus Secretary: Jack Johnson
Caucus Treasurer: Mae Beavers

Minority Leadership (D)

Floor Leader: Jim Kyle
Caucus Chairman: Roy Herron
Caucus Vice Chairman: Doug Jackson
Caucus Treasurer: Andy Berke

Senate Members

District	Name	Party	Counties Represented
1	Steve Southerland	Rep	Cocke, Greene, Hamblen, and Unicoi
2	Ron Ramsey	Rep	Johnson and Sullivan
3	Rusty Crowe	Rep	Washington and Carter
4	Mike Faulk	Rep	Clairborne, Grainger, Hancock, Hawkins, Jefferson, and Union
5	Randy McNally	Rep	Anderson, Loudon, Monroe, and part of Knox
6	Jamie Woodson	Rep	Part of Knox
7	Tim Burchett	Rep	Part of Knox
8	Doug Overbey	Rep	Blount and Sevier
9	Dewayne Bunch	Rep	Bradley, McMinn, Meigs, and Polk
10	Andy Berke	Dem	Part of Hamilton, Marion
11	Bo Watson	Rep	Part of Hamilton
12	Ken Yager	Rep	Campbell, Fentress, Morgan, Rhea, Roane, and Scott
13	Bill Ketron	Rep	Lincoln, Marshall, Maury, and part of Rutherford
14	Eric Stewart	Dem	Franklin, Bledsoe, Coffee, Grundy, Sequatchie, Van Buren, and Warren
15	Charlotte Burks	Dem	Cumberland, Jackson, Overton, Pickett, Putnam, and White
16	Jim Tracy	Rep	Bedford, Moore, and part of Rutherford
17	Mae Beavers	Rep	Cannon, Clay, DeKalb, Macon, Smith, part of Sumner, Trousdale, and Wilson
18	Diane Black	Rep	Sumner and Robertson
19	Thelma Harper	Dem	Part of Davidson
20	Joe M. Haynes	Dem	Part of Davidson
21	Douglas Henry	Dem	part of Davisdon
22	Tim Barnes	Dem	Montgomery, Houston, Cheatam
23	Jack Johnson	Rep	Williamson and part of Davidson
24	Roy Herron	Dem	Benton, Decatur, Henry, Henderson, Lake, Obion, Perry, Stewart, and Weakley
25	Doug Jackson	Dem	Dickson, Giles, Hickman, Humphreys, Lawrence, and Lewis
26	Dolores Gresham	Rep	Chester, Crockett, Fayette, Hardeman, Hardin, Haywood, McNairy, and Wayne
27	Lowe Finney	Dem	Carroll, Madison, Gibson
28	Jim Kyle	Dem	part of Shelby
29	Ophelia Ford	Dem	part of Shelby
30	Beverly Marrero	Dem	part of Shelby
31	Brian Kelsey	Rep	part of Shelby
32	Mark Norris	Rep	Dyer, Lauderdale, Tipton, and part of Shelby
33	Reginald Tate	Dem	part of Shelby

Senate Standing Committee Chairs

Commerce, Labor & Agriculture: Vacant
Education: Dolores Gresham
Environment, Conservation & Tourism: Steve Southerland
Finance, Ways and Means: Randy McNally
Transportation: Jim Tracy
General Welfare, Health & Human Resources: Rusty Crowe
Government Operations: Jack Johnson
Judiciary: Mae Beavers
State and Local Government: Bill Ketron

References

^ Republican Paul Stanley (D-31) resigned [1]
^ Republican Brian Kelsey wins special election to replace Stanley. [2]

External links

v • d • e Legislatures of the United States

United States Congress	United States House of Representatives · United States Senate

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State of Tennessee

Nashville (capital)

Topics

Grand Divisions

East Tennessee | Middle Tennessee | West Tennessee

Regions

Major cities

Counties

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Tennessee Senate

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