The Nevada Legislature is a bicameral body, consisting of the lower house, the Assembly, with 42 members, and the

upper house An upper house is one of two chambers of a bicameral legislature, the other chamber being the lower house.''Bicameralism'' (1997) by George Tsebelis The house formally designated as the upper house is usually smaller and often has more restric ...

, the Senate, with 21. With a total of 63 seats, the Legislature is the third-smallest bicameral state legislature in the United States, after

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S. ...

's (60 members) and

Delaware Delaware ( ) is a state in the Mid-Atlantic region of the United States, bordering Maryland to its south and west; Pennsylvania to its north; and New Jersey and the Atlantic Ocean to its east. The state takes its name from the adjacent Del ...

's (62). The Nevada State Legislature is the first majority female State Legislature in the history of the United States. As of 2022, the Democratic Party controls both houses of the Nevada State Legislature. In the 2022 Nevada elections, which were apart of the

midterm elections Apart from general elections and by-elections, midterm election refers to a type of election where the people can elect their representatives and other subnational officeholders (e.g. governor, members of local council) in the middle of the term ...

for that year, the Democratic Party obtained a supermajority in the lower house of the state legislature. As for the

of the state legislature, the elections provided the Democratic Party with thirteen of the twnety-one seats—amounting to a partisan composition of 61.9 percent.

Establishment

The Nevada Territorial Legislature was established upon creation of the

Nevada Territory The Territory of Nevada (N.T.) was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from March 2, 1861, until October 31, 1864, when it was admitted to the Union as the State of Nevada. Prior to the creation of the Nevada ...

in 1861. It created the nine original counties during its first session outside Carson City. Nevada became a state under the

Nevada Constitution The Constitution of the State of Nevada is the organic law of the state of Nevada, and the basis for Nevada's statehood as one of the United States. History The Nevada Constitution was created in 1864 at a convention on July 4 in Carson City. Th ...

of 1864, vests the legislative authority of the state in a Senate and Assembly, which are designated "The Legislature of the State of

Nevada Nevada ( ; ) is a state in the Western region of the United States. It is bordered by Oregon to the northwest, Idaho to the northeast, California to the west, Arizona to the southeast, and Utah to the east. Nevada is the 7th-most extensive, ...

". The legislature has the duty to establish the number of Senators and Assembly members and the legislative districts to which they are apportioned after each decennial census, though the total number of legislators may not exceed 75. The size of the Senate is tied to the size of the Assembly; the state constitution limits the Senate to no less than one-third and no greater than one-half of the size of the Assembly. Redistricting bills passed by the legislature after the 2010 US Census were vetoed by the governor, and the legislature was unable to override those vetoes. Ultimately, Nevada's legislative districts as of 2011 were established by order of a state district court. Since that time, Senate districts have been formed by combining two neighboring Assembly districts.

Terms of members

Members of the Assembly are elected to a two-year term with term limits of six terms (12 years). Members of the Senate are elected to a four-year term and similarly face term limits of three terms (12 years). Term limits were amended to the

following a voter referendum in 1996 as reflected in Nevada Constitution, Art. 4, Sec 4.

Sessions and qualifications

The Legislature's first official working day is the first Monday of February following the election. Sessions of the Legislature are biennial, occurring during odd number years. The Nevada Legislature is one of only four states that have biennial sessions, the others being

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

North Dakota North Dakota () is a U.S. state in the Upper Midwest, named after the indigenous Dakota Sioux. North Dakota is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Saskatchewan and Manitoba to the north and by the U.S. states of Minnesota to the east, So ...

, and

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2020, it is the second-largest U.S. state by ...

. The Legislature must adjourn

sine die In mathematics, sine and cosine are trigonometric functions of an angle. The sine and cosine of an acute angle are defined in the context of a right triangle: for the specified angle, its sine is the ratio of the length of the side that is opp ...

each regular session not later than midnight

Pacific Daylight Time The Pacific Time Zone (PT) is a time zone encompassing parts of western Canada, the western United States, and western Mexico. Places in this zone observe standard time by subtracting eight hours from Coordinated Universal Time ( UTC−08:00 ...

(PDT) 120 calendar days following its commencement. Any legislative action taken after midnight PDT on the 120th calendar day is void unless it occurs during a special session convened by the

Governor of Nevada A governor is an administrative leader and head of a polity or political region, ranking under the head of state and in some cases, such as governors-general, as the head of state's official representative. Depending on the type of political r ...

. The governor is obligated to submit the proposed executive budget to the Legislature not later than 14 calendar days before the commencement of each regular session. In order to be elected as a member in either chamber of the Legislature, a person must be a U.S. citizen, at least 21 years of age, a Nevada resident for one year, and a qualified voter in their residing district.

Standing Committees

. *

Nevada Assembly The Nevada Assembly is the lower house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Nevada, the upper house being the Nevada Senate. The body consists of 42 members, elected to two-year terms from single-member district ...

Standing Committees **Commerce and Labor ***Energy **

Committee of the Whole A committee of the whole is a meeting of a legislative or deliberative assembly using procedural rules that are based on those of a committee, except that in this case the committee includes all members of the assembly. As with other (standing) c ...

**Corrections, Parole, and Probation **Education **Government Action **Health and Human Services **Judiciary **Legislative Operations and Elections **Natural Resources, Agriculture, and Mining **Taxation **Transportation **Ways and Means ***Audit ***General Government ***Human Services ***K-12/Higher Education/CIP ***Public Safety, Natural Resources, and Transportation *

Nevada Senate The Nevada Senate is the upper house of the Nevada Legislature, the state legislature of U.S. state of Nevada, the lower house being the Nevada Assembly. It currently (2012–2021) consists of 21 members from single-member districts. In the pr ...

Standing Committees **Commerce, Labor, and Energy ***Energy **Committee of the Whole **Finance ***Audit ***General Government ***Human Services ***K-12/Higher Education/CIP ***Public Safety, Natural Resources, and Transportation **Government Affairs **Health and Human Services **Judiciary **Legislative Operations and Elections **Natural Resources **Revenue and Economic Development **Senate Parliamentary Rules and Procedures **Transportation

Meeting places

For seven years after Nevada's admission as a

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 sove ...

in 1864, the Nevada Legislature did not have a proper meeting place. In 1869, the Legislature passed the State Capitol Act, signed into law by Governor Henry G. Blasdel, providing $100,000 for the construction of a capitol building. Under the supervision of designer

Joseph Gosling Joseph Gosling was an architect in San Francisco. He is credited with designing the Nevada State Capitol. He also designed the Frank G. Edwards House in San Francisco. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. He had an office at ...

, construction began on the

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

building in 1870. The Legislature convened in the unfinished state capitol building the following year, with construction completed by the middle of the year. The Legislature continued to meet in the state capitol until 1971, when both chambers moved to the Legislative Building constructed just south of the original capitol. The old state capitol continues to be the office of the governor and other executive branch officials. The former Assembly and Senate chambers are now museums, and available for meetings.

History

Sadie Hurst Sadie Dotson Hurst (July 27, 1857 – January 17, 1952) was an American politician who served as a member of the Nevada Assembly, the first woman elected to the Nevada Legislature. Early life Sadie Dotson was born in Iowa in 1857. Horton and her ...

(1857–1952) was the first woman elected to the Nevada Legislature ( R- Washoe), in 1918. When the legislature met in special session on February 7, 1920, to ratify the Federal Suffrage Amendment, it was Hurst, the assemblywoman from

Reno Reno ( ) is a city in the northwest section of the U.S. state of Nevada, along the Nevada-California border, about north from Lake Tahoe, known as "The Biggest Little City in the World". Known for its casino and tourism industry, Reno is the ...

, who presented the resolution. She has the further distinction of being the first woman to preside over a state Legislature during the ratification of the Federal Suffrage Amendment. The 80th Nevada Legislature, , is the first women-majority bicameral state legislature in U.S. history. Two states have previously held a female majority in one legislative body.

References

External links

Nevada LegislatureFacts about the State of NevadaLeaders and Members of the AssemblyLeaders and Members of the Senate
* Nevada Legislature Records. Yale Collection of Western Americana, Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library. {{Authority control Bicameral legislatures