A | B | C | D | E | F | G | H | CH | I | J | K | L | M | N | O | P | Q | R | S | T | U | V | W | X | Y | Z | 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9
Maryland Senate | |
|---|---|
| Maryland General Assembly | |
.svg) | |
| Type | |
| Type | |
Term limits | None |
| History | |
New session started | January 11, 2023 |
| Leadership | |
President pro tempore | |
Majority Leader | |
Minority Leader | |
| Structure | |
| Seats | 47 |
 | |
Political groups | Majority
Minority
|
Length of term | 4 years |
| Authority | Article III, Section 2, Maryland Constitution |
| Salary | $50,330/year[1] |
| Elections | |
Last election | November 8, 2022 |
Next election | November 3, 2026 |
| Redistricting | Legislative Control |
| Meeting place | |
 | |
| State Senate Chamber Maryland State House Annapolis, MD | |
| Website | |
| Maryland State Senate | |
The Maryland Senate, sometimes referred to as the Maryland State Senate, is the upper house of the General Assembly, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland. Composed of 47 senators elected from an equal number of constituent single-member districts, the Senate is responsible, along with the Maryland House of Delegates, for passage of laws in Maryland, and for confirming executive appointments made by the Governor of Maryland.
It evolved from the upper house of the colonial assembly created in 1650 when Maryland was a proprietary colony controlled by Cecilius Calvert. It consisted of the Governor and members of the Governor's appointed council. With slight variation, the body to meet in that form until 1776, when Maryland, now a state independent of British rule, passed a new constitution that created an electoral college to appoint members of the Senate. This electoral college was abolished in 1838 and members began to be directly elected from each county and Baltimore City. In 1972, because of a Supreme Court decision, the number of districts was increased to 47, and the districts were balanced by population rather than being geographically determined.
To serve in the Maryland Senate, a person must be a citizen of Maryland 25 years of age or older. Elections for the 47 Senate seats are held every four years coincident with the federal election in which the President of the United States is not elected. Vacancies are filled through appointment by the Governor. The Senate meets for three months every year; the rest of the year the work of the Senate is light and most members hold another job during this time. It has been controlled by Democrats since 1900. In the 2018 election, more than two-thirds of the Senate seats were won by Democrats.
Senators elect a President to serve as presiding officer of the legislative body, as well as a President Pro Tempore. The President appoints chairs and membership of six standing committees, four legislative committees as well as the Executive Nominations and Rules Committees. Senators are also organized into caucuses, including party- and demographically-based caucuses. They are assisted in their work by paid staff of the non-partisan Department of Legislative Services and by partisan office staff.
History
The origins of the Maryland Senate lie in the creation of an assembly during the early days of the Maryland colony. This assembly first met in 1637, making it the longest continuously operating legislative body in the United States.[2] Originally, the assembly was unicameral, but in 1650, the Governor and his appointed council began serving as the upper house of a now bicameral legislature. These appointees had close political and economic ties to the proprietors of the Maryland colony, Cecilius Calvert and his descendants. Thus, the upper house in colonial times often disagreed with the lower house, which was elected, tended to be more populist, and pushed for greater legislative power in the colony.[3]
The upper house was briefly abolished during the English Civil War, as Puritan governors attempted to consolidate control and prevent the return of any proprietary influence. It was again abolished by Governor Josias Fendall in 1660, who sought to create a colonial government based on an elected unicameral legislature like that of the Virginia colony. The position of Governor was removed from the legislature in 1675, but for the following century, its function and powers largely remained the same.[3]
In 1776, following the signing of the Declaration of Independence and the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, Maryland threw off proprietary control and established a new constitution. Under this new constitution, the upper house of the General Assembly first became known as the Maryland Senate. The new body consisted of fifteen senators appointed to five-year terms by an electoral college. The college, made up of two electors from each county and one each from the cities of Baltimore and Annapolis, was required to select nine senators from the western shore and six from the eastern shore.[3]
The first election under the 1776 constitution took place in 1781, and the system would not change again until 1838. In the interim, a number of problems had cropped up in the appointment process. Under the 1776 constitution, the electoral college selected all of the State Senators, and faced no restrictions, other than the geographic requirement, in how they were selected. As a result, it was commonplace for the electoral college to select a State Senate entirely composed of one political party.[4] Only in 1826, when National Republicans won a majority on the electoral college with a pledge to elect a balanced Senate, was more than one party represented. That year, the electoral college selected 11 National Republicans and four Federalists.[5] Additionally, all vacancies in the State Senate were filled by the Senate itself, which frequently resulted in a disproportionately high share of the Senate having been appointed to fill vacancies. During one session, fourteen out of fifteen senators had been selected to fill vacancies.[4]
In 1836, tensions rose over the State Senate's composition. That year, the Democratic Party won 53% of the statewide vote for the electoral college, but ended up with only nineteen of forty electors. When the Whig electors planned to elect an all-Whig State Senate, the Democratic electors absconded, denying the electoral college a quorum. The refusal to elect a State Senate also prevented the election of a Governor, as Maryland's governors were elected by the legislature. Ultimately, however, the Democrats' position weakened following the State House elections the following month, when the Whigs won an overwhelming majority. The electors returned, providing a quorum, and an all-Whig Senate was elected.[4]
The controversy ultimately resulted in long-term changes to the body in 1838. The electoral college was abolished, terms were lengthened to six years with rotating elections such that a third of the senate would be elected every two years, a single Senator was chosen by direct election from each county and the City of Baltimore, and vacancies were filled by special elections. The Senate no longer acted as the Governor's Council, although they would continue to confirm the Governor's appointments. Constitutional changes altered this new system slightly in 1851, when terms were shortened to four years, and 1864, when Baltimore City was given three Senate districts rather than one, but substantial change to the structure of the Senate did not come again until 1964.[3]
In 1964, the Supreme Court ruled in Reynolds v. Sims that state legislative seats must be apportioned on the principle of one man, one vote. A number of state legislatures, including Maryland, had systems based on geography rather than population, and the court rules that this violated the 14th Amendment. Disproportionate population growth across Maryland since 1838 meant that the principle of one seat per county gave the voters of some counties, such as those on the eastern shore, disproportionate representation. Other counties, especially those in suburban areas, were underrepresented.[3]
A special session of the legislature in 1965 changed the Senate to represent 16 districts and reapportioned the seats, again by county, but did so in such a way as to make the representation more proportional to population than it had been. Thus, the eastern shore, which had previously elected nine senators, elected only four after 1965. This was done to preserve the ideal of having whole counties represented by a single Senator, rather than breaking counties up into multiple districts. A constitutional amendment in 1972 expanded the Senate to 47 members, elected from districts proportional to the population. These districts are reapportioned every ten years based on the United States Census to ensure they remain proportional.[3]
Powers and legislative process
The Maryland Senate, as the upper house of the bicameral Maryland General Assembly, shares with the Maryland House of Delegates the responsibility for making laws in the state of Maryland. Bills are often developed in the period between sessions of the General Assembly by the Senate's standing committees or by individual senators. They are then submitted by senators to the Maryland Department of Legislative Services for drafting of legislative language. Between 2000 and 2005, an average of 907 bills were introduced in the Senate annually during the three-month legislative session. The bill is submitted, and receives the first of three constitutionally mandated readings on the floor of the Senate, before being assigned to a committee.[6] The decision about whether legislation passes is often made in the committees. Committees can hold legislation and prevent it from reaching the Senate floor. The recommendations of committees on bills carry tremendous weight; it is rare for the Senate as a whole to approve legislation that has received a negative committee report.[2] Once a committee has weighed in on a piece of legislation, the bill returns to the floor for second hearing, called the "consideration of committee" report, and a third hearing, which happens just before the floor vote on it.[6]
Once passed by the Senate, a bill is sent to the House of Delegates for consideration. If the House also approves the bill without amendment, it is sent to the Governor. If there is amendment, however, the Senate may either reconsider the bill with amendments or ask for the establishment of a conference committee to work out differences in the versions of the bill passed by each chamber. Once a piece of legislation approved by both houses is forwarded to the Governor, it may either be signed or vetoed. If it is signed, it takes effect on the effective date of the legislation, usually October 1 of that year. If it is vetoed, both the Senate and the House of Delegates must vote by a three-fifths majority to overturn the veto. They may not, however, overturn a veto in the first year of a new term, since the bill would have been passed during the previous session. Additionally, joint resolutions and the budget bill may not be vetoed, although the General Assembly is constitutionally limited in the extent to which it may influence the latter; it may only decrease the Governor's budget proposal, not increase it.[6]
Unlike the House of Delegates, the Senate has the sole responsibility in the state's legislative branch for confirming gubernatorial appointees to positions that require confirmation. After the Governor forwards his nomination to the Senate, the Executive Nominations Committee reviews the nominee and makes a recommendation for confirmation or rejection to the Senate as a whole.[7] Only one gubernatorial nominee in recent history has been rejected; Lynn Buhl, nominated as Maryland Secretary of the Environment by Governor Robert Ehrlich, was rejected over concerns about her qualifications.[8] The Senate also has sole responsibility for trying any persons that have been impeached by the House of Delegates. They must be sworn in before such a trial takes place, and a two-thirds majority is required for conviction of the impeached person.[9]
Composition
| Affiliation | Party (Shading indicates majority caucus)
|
Total | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Democratic | Republican | Vacant | ||
| 2007–2010 Session | 33 | 14 | 0 | 47 |
| 2011–2014 Session | 35 | 12 | 0 | 47 |
| 2015–2018 Session[10] | 33 | 14 | 0 | 47 |
| 2019–2022 Session[11] | 32 | 15 | 0 | 47 |
| 2023–2026 Session | 34 | 13 | 0 | 47 |
| Latest voting share | 72.3% | 27.7% | ||
