Hartford, with about 99,000, has only two, and so has Bridgeport with a population of 102,000, and Waterbury with 73,000. These four cities comprise about one third the population of the state, but they have only one thirty-second part of the membership of the house of representatives. A similar system of representation exists in Vermont and in the senate of Rhode Island.
Moreover, as a result of "gerrymandering" by the political party in control of the legislature the legislative districts are frequently so constructed as to give the majority party more than its fair share of representatives. As a result there are in some states great inequalities of representation among the different counties or legislative districts.
In order to prevent large cities from controlling the legislature and thereby dominating the state, a few constitutions limit their representation in the legislature. Thus in New York it is provided that no county, however populous, shall have more than one third of all the representatives, and a somewhat similar provision is contained in the constitutions of Rhode Island and Pennsylvania.
Minority Representation in the Legislature.– Where there are two political parties in the state, it is worth considering whether some provision should not be made for allowing each party to choose a number of representatives in proportion to its numerical strength, or at least for allowing the weaker party some representation in the legislature. It not infrequently happens under the present system that the majority party in the state succeeds in electing nearly all the representatives, leaving the other party practically without representation, although it may be strong enough to cast hundreds of thousands of votes in the state as a whole. In the Oregon state election of 1906, for example, the Republican party, with only 55 per cent of the voting strength, elected eighty-eight members of the legislature, while the Democratic party, though casting 34 per cent of the total vote, elected only seven representatives.
The present constitution of Illinois contains a clause which makes it possible for the minority party in each of the fifty-one legislative districts into which the state is divided to elect at least one of the three representatives to which the district is entitled. Each voter is allowed three votes, and he may give one vote to each of three candidates, or he may give all three to one candidate, or two to one candidate and one to another. Usually the party having the majority in the district elects two candidates and the minority party one, the voters of the latter party concentrating all their votes on the one candidate.
Legislative Sessions.– In the great majority of states the legislatures hold regular sessions every two years. In New York, New Jersey, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Georgia, and South Carolina the legislature meets every year in regular session. Alabama is contented with a session once in every four years. In California the session is divided into two parts, the first being devoted exclusively to the introduction of bills. The legislature then takes a recess of a month to enable the members to consult their constituents in regard to the bills introduced, after which it reassembles for the enactment of such legislation as seems to be demanded. In all the states the governor is empowered to call extraordinary sessions for the consideration of special matters of an urgent character.
There is a popular belief that legislatures waste much of their time in the consideration of petty matters, and in many states the constitution either limits the length of the session, – sometimes to forty, fifty, or sixty days, – or provides that where the session is prolonged beyond a certain number of days, the pay of members shall cease. The wisdom of limiting the sessions to such brief periods, however, is doubtful, and several states that once imposed such restrictions have since removed them.
Legislative Compensation.– In all the states, members of the legislature receive pay for their services. This is either in the form of a definite amount per year, term, or session, or so much per day. The largest legislative salaries are those of Illinois ($3,500 per biennial session), New York ($1,500 per year), Massachusetts and Ohio ($1,000 per year), and Pennsylvania ($1,500 per biennial session). In New Hampshire, on the other hand, the salary is only $200 per biennial session, in Connecticut $300, and in South Carolina $200 for each annual session. In thirty states the per diem method of compensation prevails, the amount ranging from three dollars per day, which is the salary paid in Kansas and Oregon, to ten dollars per day, in Kentucky, Montana, and Nebraska, the most usual sum being four or five dollars per day. In several states, however, the per diem compensation ceases, or is reduced to a nominal amount, after the legislature has been in session 60 days or 90 days. Mileage ranging in amount from ten cents per mile to twenty-five cents is usually allowed, and in a number of states there is a small allowance for postage, stationery, and newspapers. In some states the pay of the legislators is fixed by the constitution, and hence the matter is beyond control of the legislature. Indeed, in only a few states is the matter of legislative pay left entirely to the discretion of the legislature without restriction.
In a number of them the constitution either forbids members to accept free passes on the railroads, or makes it the duty of the legislature to pass laws prohibiting the acceptance of such passes.
Organization of the Legislature.– Each house is usually free to organize itself as it may see fit, though where the office of lieutenant governor exists, the constitution designates that official as the presiding officer of the senate.
The Speaker.– The presiding officer of the lower house is styled the speaker, and in all the states he is chosen by the house from its own membership. He calls the house to order, presides over its deliberations, enforces the rules governing debate, puts motions and states questions, makes rulings on points of order, recognizes members who desire to address the house, appoints the committees, signs the acts and resolutions passed by the house, and maintains order and decorum. He usually belongs to the political party which is in the majority in the house, and in making up the committees and recognizing members for the purpose of debate he usually favors those of his own party.
The Clerk.– Each house has a clerk or secretary who keeps the journal of the proceedings, has custody of all bills and resolutions before the house, keeps the calendar of bills, calls the roll, reads bills, and performs other duties of a like character. He is often assisted by other clerks such as a reading clerk, an engrossing clerk, sometimes an enrolling clerk, etc.
Sergeant-at-arms.– To execute the orders of the house in preserving good order and enforcing the rules, there is an officer called a sergeant-at-arms. He usually has custody of the hall in which the meetings are held, makes arrests when the house orders an outsider to be taken into custody for contempt, compels absent members to attend when ordered by the house to do so, and sometimes keeps the accounts of the pay and mileage of members.
Other Officers and Employees.– Usually, also, there is a chaplain who opens the session with prayer, though he is not always a paid employee; a postmaster; and a number of miscellaneous employees such as doorkeepers, janitors, copying clerks, stenographers, pages, etc.11
Committees.– For convenience in legislation the members of each house are grouped into committees, the more important of which are those on agriculture, corporations, finance or appropriations, ways and means, judiciary, railroads, labor, education, manufactures, engrossment and enrollment, and insurance. In the Western states there are usually committees on immigration, mining, dairies, forestry, fish and game, drainage, swamp lands, irrigation, levees and river improvements, etc. The number and size of the committees vary in different states. In some of the states there are as many as fifty or sixty committees, and occasionally as many as forty members are placed on a single committee. In addition to the standing committees of each house there are frequently select committees appointed for special purposes, and there are usually a number of joint committees made up of members of both houses. In the New England states most of the committee work is done by joint committees, there being usually only four or five standing committees in each house.
How Bills are Passed.– Each house is empowered to frame
The California house of representatives, consisting of eighty members, had in 1907 a total of 335 employees, with salaries ranging from $3 to $8 per day. The senate, composed of forty members, had 228 employees. Since then an amendment to the constitution of that state has been adopted, limiting to $500 per day the amount that may be expended by the legislature for clerical assistance. In some other states the number of employees of the legislature seems excessive, and restrictions similar to that now found in the constitution of California might not be out of place. Thus in 1903 there were 226 employees of the legislature of Illinois, 315 in Missouri, 299 in New York, and 225 in Oregon. The expense account of legislative employees in Illinois for the session of 1913 amounted to more than $95,000; the amount in New York was over $250,000; and in Wisconsin over $76,000. One of the arguments now being urged in some states in favor of a single-chamber legislature is that it would make possible a material reduction in the number of legislative employees and a corresponding diminution of expenses.
