The Delaware State Legislature – DoverDover

The Delaware State Legislature – Dover

We got in through the back door as if we were family. To the left was the House of Representatives. To the right was the Senate. In the middle stood some stairs that led to the governor’s office on the 2nd floor.

In the House were 41 representatives who were elected by people in their districts for 2 years, while in the Senate were 21 senators who were elected by people in larger senatorial districts for 6 years. Both representatives and senators can be elected for as many terms as possible as far as voters are satisfied.

Every ten years, there is a census that will determine how the state is going to be dissected into representative districts and senatorial ones.

Today is the 26th of June, just 4 days to the closing session of the 144th general assembly which usually starts on the 2nd Tuesday in January. For the other six months, senators and representatives keep in touch with people trying to sensor their needs. Being a legislator is a part-time job. Some legislators are teachers, lawyers or ever farmers.

Neither the House nor the Senate is ethnically dissected. If you are 24, you can be a representative, while you have to be 27 to be a senator. Neither color, gender, education nor religion matters as long as you’re an American citizen.

Ruth Ann Minner, a Democratic businesswoman, is the 1st female governor of Delaware. When she was 16, she left school to work for the governor. She was elected for the House for 2 terms then for the Senate which she presided as one of her duties as a lieutenant governor. In 2001, she became the 1st female governor and she was re-elected for a second 4-year term in 2005. A governor cannot be elected for more than two 4-year terms.

Unlike the Senate that has a Democratic majority led by Senator Deluca, the House has a Republican majority led by Representative Cathcart.

Representative Spence, the Speaker of the House, is the longest active speaker who has been in the position for 19 years.

Unlike Senators, Representatives, Governor and Lieutenant Governor who are elected, the support staff is recruited.

The building of the State Legislature has a federalist colonial architectural style which you find in the Independence Hall in Pennsylvania. The paintings inside go back to 1987, the 200th anniversary of Delaware Legislature.

The seal of the state has been changed 3 times. Recently, some 4th graders have drafted a law to change the dates on the seal. The old dates were the dates of changing the seal. The law was approved and more important dated replaced the old ones on the seal. They are as follows:

1704 is the year that Delaware established its general assembly.

1776 is the year that Delaware independence from Great Britain was declared.

1787 is the year Delaware became the first state by ratifying the US constitution.

For more information jim.rafte@proforma.com
Summarized by Mouhammad Utmah translingua@hotmail.com