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The Tennessee Senate is 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 ...
of the U.S. state of Tennessee's state legislature, which is known formally as the Tennessee General Assembly. The Tennessee Senate has the power to pass resolutions concerning essentially any issue regarding the state, country, or world. The Senate also has the power to create and enforce its own rules and qualifications for its members. The Senate shares these powers with the Tennessee House of Representatives. The Senate alone has the power to host impeachment proceeding and remove impeached members of office with a 2/3 majority. The Tennessee Senate, according to the state constitution of 1870, is composed of 33 members, one-third the size of the Tennessee House of Representatives. Senators are to be elected from districts of substantially equal population. According to the Tennessee constitution, a county is not to be joined to a portion of another county for purposes of creating a district; this provision has been overridden by the rulings of the
Supreme Court of the United States The Supreme Court of the United States (SCOTUS) is the highest court in the federal judiciary of the United States. It has ultimate appellate jurisdiction over all Federal tribunals in the United States, U.S. federal court cases, and over Stat ...
in '' Baker v. Carr'' (369 U.S. 182, 1962) and '' Reynolds v. Sims'' (337 U.S. 356, 1964). The Tennessee constitution has been amended to allow that if these rulings are ever changed or reversed, a
referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...
may be held to allow the senate districts to be drawn on a basis other than substantially equal population. Until 1966, Tennessee state senators served two-year terms. That year the system was changed, by constitutional amendment, to allow four-year terms. In that year, senators in even-numbered districts were elected to two-year terms and those in odd-numbered districts were elected to four-year terms. This created a staggered system in which only half of the senate is up for election at any one time. Senators from even-numbered districts are elected in the same years as presidential elections, and senators from odd-numbered districts are elected in the same years as mid-term elections. Districts are to be sequentially and consecutively numbered; the scheme basically runs from east to west and north to south. Republicans attained an elected majority in the Senate in the 104th General Assembly (2005–07) for the first time since
Reconstruction Reconstruction may refer to: Politics, history, and sociology *Reconstruction (law), the transfer of a company's (or several companies') business to a new company *''Perestroika'' (Russian for "reconstruction"), a late 20th century Soviet Union ...
; a brief majority in the 1990s was the result of two outgoing senators switching parties. Following the 2018 elections, there were no Democratic senators from East Tennessee. There were three Democrats from Memphis in West Tennessee, and three from
Middle Tennessee Middle Tennessee is one of the three Grand Divisions of Tennessee that composes roughly the central portion of the state. It is delineated according to state law as 41 of the state's 95 counties. Middle Tennessee contains the state's capital an ...
, two from
Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
and one from the Nashville suburb of Goodlettsville.


Speaker of the Senate

According to Article III, Section 12 of the Constitution of the State of Tennessee, the speaker of the Senate assumes the office of governor in the event of a vacancy. The Senate elects one of its own members as speaker and the speaker automatically becomes the lieutenant governor. The speaker appoints a speaker pro tempore who presides over the Senate in the absence of the speaker as well as a deputy speaker to assist the speaker in his or her duties. The current speaker of the Senate and lieutenant governor is Randy McNally, who was elected to the position in 2017. One of the main duties of the speaker is to preside over the Senate and make Senate committee appointments based upon ability and preference of members, seniority, and party representation. The speaker also maintains the power to remove members from Committee appointments. The speaker, in cohort with the speaker of the
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 ...
, chairs the Joint Legislative Services Committee which provides assistance to the General Assembly. The speaker also controls staffing and office space with Senate staff. The speaker serves as an ex-officio member of all standing committees.


Oath and qualifications of office


Oath of office

"I ame of officialdo solemnly swear that, as a member of this, the umber, ex. One Hundred EleventhGeneral Assembly of the State of Tennessee, I will faithfully support the Constitution of this State and of the United States, and I do solemnly affirm that as a member of this General Assembly, I will, in all appointments, vote without favor, affection, partiality, or prejudice; and that I will not propose or assent to any bill, vote or resolution, which shall appear to me injurious to the people, or consent to any act or thing, whatever, that shall have a tendency to lessen or abridge their rights and privileges, as declared by the Constitution of this state."


Qualifications for office

"No person shall be a senator unless he shall be a citizen of the United States, of the age of thirty years, and shall have resided three years in this state, and one year in the county or district, immediately preceding the election."


Composition of the 113th General Assembly (2023-2025)


Senate leadership and members

Senate leaders *Speaker of the Senate, Lieutenant Governor: Randy McNally *Speaker ''pro tempore'': Ferrell Haile *Deputy Speaker: Shane Reeves, John Stevens, Dawn White


Members

: *Senator was originally elected in a special election or appointed


Senate committees

The Tennessee State Senate has 12 committees in total: 9 standing committees and 3 select committees. Committee assignments for the 112th General Assembly were announced in the January 12, 2021 organizational session:


Past composition of the Senate

In 1921, Anna Lee Keys Worley became the first woman to serve in the Tennessee Senate.


See also

* List of Tennessee General Assemblies


References


External links

* {{Coord, 36.1658, -86.7843, type:landmark, display=title
Senate A senate is a deliberative assembly, often the upper house or chamber of a bicameral legislature. The name comes from the ancient Roman Senate (Latin: ''Senatus''), so-called as an assembly of the senior (Latin: ''senex'' meaning "the el ...
State upper houses in the United States