The California State Assembly is the

lower house A lower house is the lower chamber of a bicameral legislature, where the other chamber is the upper house. Although styled as "below" the upper house, in many legislatures worldwide, the lower house has come to wield more power or otherwise e ...

of the

California State Legislature The California State Legislature is the bicameral state legislature of the U.S. state of California, consisting of the California State Assembly (lower house with 80 members) and the California State Senate (upper house with 40 members). ...

(the

upper house An upper house is one of two Legislative chamber, chambers of a bicameralism, bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house. The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restricted p ...

being the

California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature (the lower house being the California State Assembly). The state senate convenes, along with the state assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. ...

). The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the

California State Capitol The California State Capitol is the seat of the California state government, located in Sacramento, the state capital of California. The building houses the chambers of the California State Legislature, made up of the Assembly and the Senat ...

Sacramento Sacramento ( or ; ; ) is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the seat of Sacramento County. Located at the confluence of the Sacramento and American Rivers in Northern California's Sacramento Valley, Sacramento's 2020 p ...

. Neither house has been expanded since the ratification of the 1879 Constitution, and each of the 80 members represent at least 465,000 people, more than any other state lower house, and second largest of any lower house in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

after the federal

House of Representatives House of Representatives is the name of legislative bodies in many countries and sub-national entities. In many countries, the House of Representatives is the lower house of a bicameral legislature, with the corresponding upper house often ...

. Members of the California State Assembly are generally referred to using the titles Assemblyman, Assemblywoman, or Assemblymember. In the current legislative session, Democrats have a three-fourths supermajority of 60 seats, while Republicans control a minority of 19 seats.

Leadership

The speaker presides over the State Assembly in the chief leadership position, controlling the flow of legislation and committee assignments. The speaker is nominated by the caucus of the majority party and elected by the full Assembly. Other leaders, such as the

majority A majority is more than half of a total; however, the term is commonly used with other meanings, as explained in the "#Related terms, Related terms" section below. It is a subset of a Set (mathematics), set consisting of more than half of the se ...

and minority leaders, are elected by their respective party caucuses according to each party's strength in the chamber. The current speaker is Democrat Robert Rivas ( 29th– Hollister). The majority leader is Democrat Cecilia Aguiar-Curry ( 4th– Winters), while the minority leader is Republican James Gallagher ( 3rd– Yuba City).

Terms of office

Members are allowed, by current term limits, to serve 12 years in the legislature in any combination of four-year

State Senate In the United States, the state legislature is the legislative branch in each of the 50 U.S. states. A legislature generally performs state duties for a state in the same way that the United States Congress performs national duties at ...

or two-year State Assembly terms. However, members elected to the Legislature prior to 2012 are restricted to three two-year terms (six years). Few, if any, legislators remain from this era, though the restriction could affect future candidates running after a hiatus from office. Every two years, all 80 seats in the Assembly are subject to election. This is in contrast to the State Senate, in which only half of its 40 seats are subject to election every two years.

Meeting chamber

The chamber's green tones are based on the

House of Commons of the United Kingdom The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Like the upper house, the House of Lords, it meets in the Palace of Westminster in London, England. The House of Commons is an elected body consisting of 650 memb ...

. The

dais A dais or daïs ( or , American English also but sometimes considered nonstandard)dais
in the Random House Dictionary< ...

rests along a wall shaped like an "E", with its central projection housing the rostrum. Along the

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

appears a portrait of

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln (February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was the 16th president of the United States, serving from 1861 until Assassination of Abraham Lincoln, his assassination in 1865. He led the United States through the American Civil War ...

and a Latin quotation: ''legislatorum est justas leges condere'' ("It is the duty of legislators to pass just laws"). Almost every decorating element is identical to the Senate Chamber.

Candidate qualifications

To run for the Assembly, a candidate must be a United States citizen and a registered voter in the district at the time nomination papers are issued, and meet the criteria of the term limits described above. According t
Article 4, Section 2(c)
of the

California Constitution The Constitution of California () is the primary organizing law for the U.S. state of California, describing the duties, powers, structures and functions of the government of California. California's constitution was drafted in both English ...

, the candidate must have one year of residency in the legislative district and California residency for three years.

Employees

The chief clerk of the Assembly, a position that has existed since the Assembly's creation, is responsible for many administrative duties. The chief clerk is the custodian of all Assembly bills and records and publishes the ''Assembly Daily Journal'', the minutes of floor sessions, as well as the ''Assembly Daily File'', the Assembly agenda. The chief clerk is the Assembly's parliamentarian, and in this capacity gives advice to the presiding officer on matters of

parliamentary procedure Parliamentary procedures are the accepted Procedural law, rules, ethics, and Norm (sociology), customs governing meetings of an deliberative assembly, assembly or organization. Their object is to allow orderly deliberation upon questions of inte ...

. The chief clerk is also responsible for engrossing and enrolling of measures, and the transmission of legislation to the governor. The Assembly also employs the position of

chaplain A chaplain is, traditionally, a cleric (such as a minister, priest, pastor, rabbi, purohit, or imam), or a lay representative of a religious tradition, attached to a secular institution (such as a hospital, prison, military unit, intellige ...

, a position that has existed in both houses since the first legislative session back in 1850. Currently, the chaplain of the Assembly is Imam Mohammad Yasir Khan, the first chaplain historically that practices

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

. The position of sergeant-at-arms of the Assembly has existed since 1849; Samuel N. Houston was the first to hold this post, overseeing one deputy. The sergeant-at-arms is mostly tasked with

law enforcement Law enforcement is the activity of some members of the government or other social institutions who act in an organized manner to enforce the law by investigating, deterring, rehabilitating, or punishing people who violate the rules and norms gove ...

duties, but customarily also has a ceremonial and protocol role. Today, some fifty employees are part of the Assembly Sergeant-at-Arms Office.

Current session

Composition

Past composition of the Assembly

Officers

The Chief Clerk, the Chief Sergeant-at-Arms, and the Chaplains are not members of the Legislature.

List of current representatives

* elected in a special election

Seating chart

Standing committees

Current committees, chairs and vice chairs include:

Recent sessions

* California State Legislature, 1997–1998 session * California State Legislature, 1999–2000 session * California State Legislature, 2001–2002 session * California State Legislature, 2003–2004 session * California State Legislature, 2005–2006 session *

California State Legislature, 2007–2008 session The 2007–2008 session was a meeting of the California State Legislature. Dates of sessions Convene: December 4, 2006 Adjourn: August 31, 2008 Major events Vacancies and special elections *March 16, 2007: Assemblyman Richard Alarcón (D-3 ...

California State Legislature, 2009–2010 session The 2009–2010 session was a meeting of the California State Legislature. Dates of sessions Convene: December 1, 2008 Adjourn: November 30, 2010 Major events Vacancies and special elections *November 30, 2008: Senator Mark Ridley-Thomas ( ...

* California State Legislature, 2011–2012 session * California State Legislature, 2013–2014 session * California State Legislature, 2015–2016 session * California State Legislature, 2017–2018 session * California State Legislature, 2019–2020 session * California State Legislature, 2021–2022 session * California State Legislature, 2023–2024 session * California State Legislature, 2025–2026 session

Notes

References

External links

* of the California State Assembly *
Democratic Caucus
*
Republican Caucus
*
Sergeant-at-Arms

Interactive map of the state assembly districts

California legislative district maps
from 1849 to the present * {{Coord, 38, 34, 35, N, 121, 29, 36, W, region:US-CA_type:landmark, display=title 1849 establishments in California Assembly State lower houses in the United States