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Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Pennsylvania
House of Representatives
Pennsylvania General Assembly
Coat of arms or logo
Type
Type
Term limits
None
History
New session started
January 3, 2017
Leadership
Speaker of the House
Mike Turzai (R)
Since January 6, 2015
Majority Leader
Dave Reed (R)
Since January 6, 2015
Minority Leader
Frank Dermody (D)
Since January 4, 2011
Structure
Seats 203
Pennsylvania State House of Representatives Partisan Composition.svg
Political groups

Governing party

Opposition party

Length of term
2 years
Authority Article II, section 1, Pennsylvania Constitution
Salary $85,338.65/year
Elections
Last election
November 8, 2016
(203 seats)
Next election
November 6, 2018
(203 seats)
Meeting place
Pennsylvania State Capitol House Chamber.jpg
House of Representatives Chamber
Pennsylvania State Capitol
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania
Website
Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Governing party

Opposition party

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts.

Following the 2016 elections, the house consisted of 121 Republicans and 82 Democrats. Republican Mike Turzai was first elected Speaker of the House on January 6, 2015. In 2012, a State Representative district had an average population of 60,498 residents.

The house is the largest full-time state legislature in the United States (the New Hampshire House of Representatives is larger but only serves part-time).

The Hall of the House contains important symbols to Pennsylvania history and the work of legislators.

The speakership is the oldest elected statewide office in the Commonwealth. Since its first session in 1682—presided over by William Penn—over 130 house members have been elevated to the speaker's chair. The house cannot hold an official session in the absence of the speaker or his designated speaker pro tempore. Speaker Leroy Irvis was the first African American elected speaker of any state legislature in the United States since Reconstruction. Speaker Dennis O'Brien was the only minority-party Speaker known in Pennsylvania and only the second known nationwide. Pennsylvania has never had a female speaker.

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has only 40 women out of 203 total representatives in 2017. This is only 19.7%, which is below the national average of 23.1% women in all statewide legislative positions.

As of December 1, 2016

Speaker of the House of Representatives: Mike Turzai (R)


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Wikipedia

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