Category:State legislature articles

Across the country there are 99 state legislative chambers (49 State houses and 50 State senates).

In those 99 chambers, there are a total of 7,384 legislators.

• 5,413 state representatives
• 1,971 state senators

Below are quick facts pertaining to state legislatures:

Features of State Legislatures

Vacancies

In the 50 states, 27 use special elections in order to fill vacancies.

Elections

In 2010, 6,125 seats were up for election. In 2011, 578 seats were up for election. In 2012, 6,015 seats were up for election.

Term limits

In 15 state legislatures, elected officials are subject to term limits.

• 562 of the 1,971 state senate seats, or 28.5%, come with a limit
• 1,368 of the 5,413 state house seats, or 25%, come with a limit
• Of the total of 7,384 state legislative seats, 1,930 (26.1%) are limited.

Salaries

Salaries of state legislators vary across the 50 states. The highest paid legislators are in California, who receive $95,291/year. The lowest paid legislators are in New Hampshire, who receive $200 per two-year term (and no per diem). New Mexico legislators earn no salary but receive $159/day in per diem.

Year Elected

The longest-serving senator is Fred Risser (D) of the Wisconsin State Senate, who has been in office since 1962.

The longest-serving representative is Lacey Putney (I) of the Virginia House of Delegates, who has been in office since 1962.

The links below are pages that have been categorized as state legislature articles, which are sub-pages of the State Legislature Project.