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Delaware State Senate

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Delaware State Senate


General Information
Type:   Upper house
Term limits:   None
2012 session start:   January 10, 2012
Website:   Official Senate Page
Leadership
Senate President:   Matthew Denn, (D)
Majority Leader:   Patricia Blevins (D)
Minority leader:   F. Gary Simpson, (R)
Structure
Members:  21
   Democratic Party (14)
Republican Party (7)
Length of term:   4 years
Authority:   Art II, Section 1, Delaware Constitution
Salary:   $41,680/year + $7,334 expenses/year
Elections
Last Election:  November 2, 2010 (10 seats)
Next election:  November 6, 2012 (21 seats)
Redistricting:  Legislature controls redistricting
Meeting place:

Contents

The Delaware State Senate is the upper house of the Delaware General Assembly, which is the state legislature of Delaware. The Senate meets at the State Capitol in Dover. The senate includes 21 state senators who are elected from single-member districts to a four-year term.[1] (When re-districting occurs every ten years, some senators may instead be elected to two-year terms.) Delaware Senators are not subject to term limits. Each member represents an average of 42,759 residents, as of the 2010 Census.[2] After the 2000 Census, each member represented 37,314 residents.[3]

The Lieutenant Governor of Delaware serves as the President of the Senate, but only casts a vote when doing so is required to break a tie. When the Lieutenant Governor is not present, the President Pro Tempore -- who is elected by the majority party -- presides over the Senate.

Sessions

Article II of the Delaware Constitution establishes when the Delaware General Assembly, of which the Senate is a part, is to be in session. Section 4 of Article II states that the General Assembly is to convene on the second Tuesday of January of each calendar year, and it is not to extend beyond the last day of June.

Section 4 also allows the General Assembly to be convened into special session by the Governor of Delaware or by the mutual call of the presiding officers of both Houses.

2012

See also: Dates of 2012 state legislative sessions

In 2012, the Senate will be in session from January 10 through June 30.

Major issues

Legislators are expected to focus more on economic rather than social issues this session, including reforms to Medicaid and addressing the budget deficit.[4]

2010

In 2010, the Senate was in session from January 12th to June 30th.[5]

Elections

2012

Elections for the office of Delaware State Senate will be held in Delaware on November 6, 2012. A total of 21 seats will be up for election. Although Delaware senators typically serve four-year terms, they are elected to a two-year term during the first election of the decade. Thus, rather than only half of all senators being up for election, all sitting members will be on the ballot in November.

The signature filing deadline is February 6, 2012 and the primary date is February 7 2012.

2010

See also: Delaware State Senate elections, 2010

Elections for the office of Delaware State Senator were held in Delaware on November 2, 2010. Senate seats in ten of Delaware's 21 districts were up for election in 2010. These districts were: 1, 5, 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14, 15, 19, and 20.

The primary nomination process for candidates wishing to run in these elections was to gain the party's nomination at state conventions held by the state's two major political parties in May. Candidates wishing to run as independents could submit nominating signatures up through July 30. The primary election day was September 14, 2010.

The partisan breakdown of the Senate before and after the election was as follows:


Delaware State Senate
Party As of November 1, 2010 After the 2010 Election
     Democratic Party 15 14
     Republican Party 6 7
Total 21 21


In 2010, the total amount of contributions raised in senate campaigns was $643,813. The top 10 overall contributors were: [6]

Donor Amount
Bodenweisser, Eric R $26,000
Friends to Elect Joe Booth State Representative $23,832
Moritz, John A $23,295
Bunting Jr., George H $11,500
Booth, Joseph W $10,000
Cullis, Fred $6,800
Delaware Racing Association $6,600
Delaware Association of Realtors $5,450
Delaware Trial Lawyers Association $4,800
Astrazeneca $4,600


Qualifications

Article II, Section 3 of the Delaware Constitution states: No person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained the age of twenty-seven years and have been a citizen and inhabitant of the State three years next preceding the day of his election and the last year of that term an inhabitant of the Senatorial District in which he shall be chosen, unless he shall have been absent on the public business of the United States or of this State.

Vacancies

See also: How vacancies are filled in state legislatures
How Vacancies are filled in State Legislatures
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If there is a vacancy in the Senate, the Senate President must call for a special election. The election must be called for no later than 30 days after the vacancy happened. The Governor may make the declaration if the Senate is not in session. The date of the election must be set no later than 10 days after a declaration was made[7].

Senators

Partisan composition

See also: Partisan composition of state senates

Senate Composition for the 146th General Assembly :


Party As of May 2012
     Democratic Party 14
     Republican Party 7
Total 21


Leadership

Current leadership

Office Representative Party
President of the Senate Matthew Denn Democratic
President Pro Tempore of the Senate Anthony DeLuca Democratic
State Senate Majority Leader Patricia Blevins Democratic
State Senate Majority Whip Margaret Rose Henry Democratic
State Senate Minority Leader F. Gary Simpson Republican
State Senate Minority Whip Liane Sorenson Republican

Salaries

See also: Comparison of state legislative salaries

As of 2011, members of the Delaware legislature are paid $42,750 per year. Legislators are allowed a maximum of $7,334 in expenses annually.[8]

The $42,750 that Delaware legislators are paid as of 2011 is a inc from the $42,000 that they were paid during legislative sessions in 2007. Delaware legislators received no per diem in 2007.[9]

When sworn in

See also: When state legislators assume office after a general election

Delaware legislators assume office the day after their election.

List of current members

Senators must be citizens of the United States, have lived in Delaware for three years and been a resident of their respective district for at least one year preceding their election and must be at least 27 years old by the time of their election.

District Representative Party
1 Harris McDowell Democratic
2 Margaret Rose Henry Democratic
3 Robert Marshall Democratic
4 Michael Katz Democratic
5 Catherine Cloutier Republican
6 Liane Sorenson Republican
7 Patricia Blevins Democratic
8 David Sokola Democratic
9 Karen Peterson Democratic
10 Bethany Hall-Long Democratic
11 Anthony DeLuca Democratic
12 Dorinda Connor Republican
13 David McBride Democratic
14 Bruce Ennis Democratic
15 David G. Lawson Republican
16 Colin Bonini Republican
17 Brian Bushweller Democratic
18 F. Gary Simpson Republican
19 Joseph Booth Republican
20 George Bunting Democratic
21 Robert Venables Democratic

Standing Senate Committees

The Delaware Senate has 25 standing committees for the 2011-2012 session:

External links

References

  1. ↑ Term limits
  2. ↑ Population in 2010 of the American states
  3. ↑ Population in 2000 of the American states
  4. ↑ Delaware First Media, "Legislators begin to form 2012 agenda," January 8, 2012
  5. ↑ 2010 session dates for Delaware legislature
  6. ↑ Follow the Money: "Delaware Senate 2010 Campaign Contributions"
  7. ↑ Delaware Legislature "Delaware Election Code"(Referenced Statutes § 7101 and § 7104, Delaware Code)
  8. ↑ National Conference of State Legislatures, "2011 Legislator Compensation Data"
  9. ↑ Empire Center, "Legislative Salaries Per State as of 2007"
v • d • e
Democrat majority Current members of the Delaware State Senate
Senate President: Matthew Denn (D) • Majority Leader: Patricia Blevins (D) • Minority Leader: Gary Simpson
Democratic (14) • Republican (7) • Delaware State Senate • Delaware House of Representatives
v • d • e
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