The North Dakota Legislative Assembly is the state legislature of the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sover ...

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the Native Americans in the United States, indigenous Dakota people, Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north a ...

. The Legislative Assembly consists of two chambers, the

lower Lower may refer to: *Lower (surname) *Lower Township, New Jersey *Lower Receiver (firearms) *Lower Wick Gloucestershire, England See also *Nizhny Nizhny (russian: Ни́жний; masculine), Nizhnyaya (; feminine), or Nizhneye (russian: Ни́� ...

North Dakota House of Representatives The North Dakota House of Representatives is the lower house of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly and is larger than the North Dakota Senate. North Dakota is divided into between 40 and 54 legislative districts apportioned by population as d ...

, with 94 representatives, and the upper

North Dakota Senate The North Dakota Senate is the upper house of the North Dakota Legislative Assembly, smaller than the North Dakota House of Representatives. Per the state constitution, North Dakota is divided into between 40 and 54 legislative districts appo ...

, with 47 senators. The state is divided into 47 constituent districts, with two representatives and one senator elected from each district. Due to the Legislative Assembly being a biennial legislature, with the House and Senate sitting for only 80 days in odd-numbered years, a Legislative Council oversees legislative affairs in the interim periods, doing longer-term studies of issues, and drafting legislation for consideration of both houses during the next session. Members of both houses are limited to two four-year terms starting January 2023. Prior to this, members were elected without

term limits A term limit is a legal restriction that limits the number of terms an officeholder may serve in a particular elected office. When term limits are found in presidential and semi-presidential systems they act as a method of curbing the potenti ...

. The Legislative Assembly convenes in the west chamber of the 19-story

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

state capitol building in Bismarck.

Constitutional mandates

According to Article IV, Section 1 of the

North Dakota Constitution The Constitution of North Dakota is the most basic legal document in the U.S. state of North Dakota. It consists of a preamble and fourteen articles. Amendments to the North Dakota Constitution have always required the approval of a majority of vo ...

, the Senate must be composed of no fewer than 40 senators, and no more than 54. Similarly, the House of Representatives must be composed of no fewer than 80 and no more than 108 representatives. Section 2 states that the Legislative Assembly can divide the state into as many legislative districts of compact and contiguous territory as there are senators. A senator and at least two representatives must be apportioned to each senatorial district and be elected at large or from subdistricts from those districts. The Legislative Assembly may combine two senatorial districts only when a single member senatorial district includes a

federal Federal or foederal (archaic) may refer to: Politics General *Federal monarchy, a federation of monarchies *Federation, or ''Federal state'' (federal system), a type of government characterized by both a central (federal) government and states or ...

facility or federal installation, containing over two-thirds of the population of a single member senatorial district, and may provide for the election of senators

at-large At large (''before a noun'': at-large) is a description for members of a governing body who are elected or appointed to represent a whole membership or population (notably a city, county, state, province, nation, club or association), rather than ...

and representatives at-large from subdistricts from those districts. In addition to a four-year term for both houses of the Legislative Assembly, Section 3 states that one-half of the members of the Senate and one-half of the members of the House of Representatives must be elected biennially. Originally, the North Dakota Constitution limited members of the

to two-year terms, with the all representatives standing for reelection at the same time. In 1996, the voters approved a

constitutional amendment A constitutional amendment is a modification of the constitution of a polity, organization or other type of entity. Amendments are often interwoven into the relevant sections of an existing constitution, directly altering the text. Conversely, t ...

that changed the term for representatives to four-years with staggered terms. The amendment went into effect July 1, 1997, and was first applied in the 1998 elections. All

statutes A statute is a formal written enactment of a legislative authority that governs the legal entities of a city, state, or country by way of consent. Typically, statutes command or prohibit something, or declare policy. Statutes are rules made by le ...

passed by the Legislative Assembly and signed by the governor become part of the

North Dakota Century Code The North Dakota Century Code is the collection of all the statutes passed by the North Dakota Legislative Assembly since the state's admission to the Union. It also includes the North Dakota Constitution. The numbering system for the Century Code ...

Qualifications

Members of both houses elected to the Legislative Assembly must be, on the day of the election, a qualified elector from their home district and must be a resident of

for one year immediately prior to their election.

Legislative management

Due to the biennial nature of the legislature, legislation, research, committee reports, and testimony during interim periods is provided by the Legislative Management. Legislative Management consists of 17 legislators, including the majority and minority leaders of both houses and the Speaker of the House. The Speaker appoints six other representatives, three from the majority party and three from the minority party as recommended by the majority and minority leaders, respectively. The

Lieutenant Governor A lieutenant governor, lieutenant-governor, or vice governor is a high officer of state, whose precise role and rank vary by jurisdiction. Often a lieutenant governor is the deputy, or lieutenant, to or ranked under a governor — a "second-in-comm ...

, as President of the Senate, appoints four senators from the majority and two from the minority as recommended by the majority and minority leaders, though the Senate President does not sit on Legislative Management.

Meeting places

Built between 1883 and 1884, the original territorial (and later) state capitol building served as the home to the Legislative Assembly until the morning of December 28, 1930, when the original building burned down. During the fire, Secretary of State Robert Byrne saved the original copy of the state constitution, but suffered cuts and burns on his hands while breaking a window to reach the document. In the interim period without a capitol, the Legislative Assembly convened in both the War Memorial Building and the City Auditorium in Bismarck. Under the approval of Governor George F. Shafer, the current

capitol was built as a replacement between 1931 and 1934 in the midst of the

Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...

References

External links

North Dakota Legislative Assembly
official site
North Dakota Legislative Assembly
at

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Legislature of North Dakota
at

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North Dakota campaign financing
at FollowTheMoney.org {{Authority control Government of North Dakota Bicameral legislatures