California State Senate

From Ballotpedia

The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature. There are 40 State Senators. The state legislature meets in the state capital, Sacramento. The Lieutenant Governor is the ex officio President of the Senate. The officers of the Senate, elected at the start of each legislative session, are; President pro Tem Don Perata, Secretary of the Senate Gregory Schmidt, and Senate Sergeant at Arms Tony Beard.

Prior to 1968, state senate districts were restricted such that one county could only hold at most one seat. This led to the situation of Los Angeles County, with 6 million residents as of 1968, receiving 600 times less representation than residents of Alpine County and Calaveras County, some of California's least populous counties. The Reynolds v. Sims decision by the United States Supreme Court compelled all states to draw up districts that were apportioned by population rather than geography. As such, boundaries were changed such that equal representation was provided.

Senators serve four year terms. The terms of the Senators are staggered so that half the membership is elected every two years. The Senators representing the odd-numbered districts are elected in years evenly divisible by four. The Senators from the even-numbered districts are elected in the intervening even-numbered years.

Since the passage of Prop 140 in 1990, California senators have been limited to two terms in office. President pro tem Perata is one of two chief sponsors of California Proposition 93 (2008) in the hopes of lengthening those limits. If Prop. 93 passes in February 2008, Perata will be able to stay in office longer.

Each Senator represents approximately 846,791 Californians, which is more than the approximately 639,088 residents in each of California's Congressional Districts.

District	Name	Party	Seat Up
1st	Dave Cox	Rep	2008
2nd	Pat Wiggins	Dem	2010
3rd	Carole Migden	Dem	2008
4th	Sam Aanestad	Rep	2010
5th	Michael Machado Term limited	Dem	2008
6th	Darrell Steinberg	Dem	2010
7th	Tom Torlakson Term limited	Dem	2008
8th	Leland Yee	Dem	2010
9th	Don Perata Term limited	Dem	2008
10th	Ellen M. Corbett	Dem	2010
11th	Joe Simitian	Dem	2008
12th	Jeff Denham	Rep	2010
13th	Elaine Alquist	Dem	2008
14th	Dave Cogdill	Rep	2010
15th	Abel Maldonado	Rep	2008
16th	Dean Florez	Dem	2010
17th	George Runner	Rep	2008
18th	Roy Ashburn	Rep	2010
19th	Tom McClintock Term limited	Rep	2008
20th	Alex Padilla	Dem	2010
21st	Jack Scott Term limited	Dem	2008
22nd	Gilbert Cedillo	Dem	2010
23rd	Sheila Kuehl Term limited	Dem	2008
24th	Gloria Romero	Dem	2010
25th	Edward Vincent Term limited	Dem	2008
26th	Mark Ridley-Thomas	Dem	2010
27th	Alan Lowenthal	Dem	2008
28th	Jenny Oropeza	Dem	2010
29th	Bob Margett Term limited	Rep	2008
30th	Ronald S. Calderon	Dem	2010
31st	Robert Dutton	Rep	2008
32nd	Gloria Negrete McLeod	Dem	2010
33rd	Dick Ackerman Term limited	Rep	2008
34th	Lou Correa	Dem	2010
35th	Tom Harman	Rep	2008
36th	Dennis Hollingsworth	Rep	2010
37th	Jim Battin Term limited	Rep	2008
38th	Mark Wyland	Rep	2010
39th	Christine Kehoe	Dem	2008
40th	Denise Moreno Ducheny	Dem	2010