Maryland Legislature
| Maryland General Assembly | |
|---|---|
| Type | |
| Type | |
| Houses |
Senate House of Delegates |
| Leadership | |
|
President of the Senate
|
|
|
Senate Majority Leader
|
|
|
Speaker of the House of Delegates
|
|
|
House Majority Leader
|
|
| Structure | |
| Seats | 188 |
|
Political groups
|
Democratic Party Independent Republican Party |
| Elections | |
|
Last election
|
November 4, 2014 |
| Meeting place | |
 |
|
| Maryland State House, Annapolis, Maryland | |
| Website | |
| http://mgaleg.maryland.gov | |
The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland State Senate, has 47 representatives and the lower chamber, the Maryland House of Delegates, has 141 representatives. Members of both houses serve four-year terms. Each house elects its own officers, judges the qualifications and election of its own members, establishes rules for the conduct of its business, and may punish or expel its own members.
The General Assembly meets each year for 90 days to act on more than 2,300 bills including the state's annual budget, which it must pass before adjourning sine die. The General Assembly's 437th session convened on January 11, 2017.
The forerunner of the Maryland General Assembly was the colonial institution, an assembly of free Marylanders, which bore the same name. Maryland's foundational charter created a state ruled by the Palatine lord, Lord Baltimore. As ruler, Lord Baltimore owned directly all of the land granted in the charter, and possessed absolute authority over his domain.
However, as elsewhere in English North America, English political institutions were re-created in the colonies, and the Maryland General Assembly fulfilled much the same function as the House of Commons of England. An act was passed providing that:
In addition, the Lord Proprietor could summon any delegates whom he desired.
In some ways the General Assembly was an improvement upon the institutions of the mother country. In 1639, noting that Parliament had not been summoned in England for a decade, the free men of Maryland passed an act to the effect that "assemblies were to be called once in every three years at the least", ensuring that their voices would be regularly heard.
During the American Revolution the colonial Assembly ceased to exist, and was replaced by its modern successor.
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Wikipedia