Nevada Senate: Difference between revisions

| leader4 = [[HeidiRobin GansertL. Titus|Robin Titus]] ([[Republican Party (United States)|R]])

| election4 = FebruaryJanuary 617, 20232024

The '''Nevada Senate''' is the [[upper house]] of the [[Nevada Legislature]], the [[state legislature (United States)|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.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://leg.state.nv.us/Division/Research/Districts/Reapp/2011/Final/Senate/SEN2011_Tables.pdf|title=Nevada State Senate - 2011 Districts |publisher=Legislative Counsel Bureau |date=January 6, 2012}}</ref> In the previous redistricting (2002–2011) there were 19 districts, two of which were multimember. Since 2012, there have been 21 districts, each formed by combining two neighboring state assembly districts. Each Statestate Senatorsenator represented approximately 128,598 as of the [[2010 United States Censuscensus]]. Article Four of the [[Constitution of Nevada]] sets that Statestate Senatorssenators serve staggered four-year terms.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leg.state.nv.us/const/nvconst.html#Art4Sec4 |title=Nevada Constitution |publisher=Legislative Counsel Bureau |access-date=January 1, 2013}}</ref>

In addition, the size of the Senate is set to be no less than one-third and no greater than one-half of the size of the Assembly.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.leg.state.nv.us/const/nvconst.html#Art4Sec5 |title=Nevada Constitution |publisher=Legislative Counsel Bureau |access-date=January 1, 2013}}</ref> [[Term limits in the United States|Term limits]], limiting senators to three 4-year terms (12 years), took effect in 2010. Because of the change in Constitution, seven senators were termed out in 2010, four were termed out in 2012, and one was termed out in 2014. The Senate met at the [[Nevada State Capitol]] in [[Carson City, Nevada|Carson City]] until 1971, when a separate Legislative Building was constructed south of the Capitol. The Legislative Building was expanded in 1997 to its current appearance to accommodate the growing Legislature.

The first session of the [[Nevada Territory|Nevada Territorial]] Legislature was held in 1861. The Council was the precursor to the current Senate and the opposite chamber was called a House of Representatives which was later changed to be called the Assembly. There were nine members of the original Council in 1861 elected from districts as counties were not yet established.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/dmdocuments/NVPoliticalHistory2006.pdf |title=Political History of Nevada |publisher=Nevada State Printing Office |year=2006 |access-date=December 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015122714/http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/dmdocuments/NVPoliticalHistory2006.pdf |archive-date=October 15, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> Counties were established in the First Session of the Territorial Legislature and the size of the Council was increased to thirteen. From the first session of the Nevada Legislature once statehood was granted the size of the Senate ranged from eighteen members, in 1864, to a low of fifteen members from 1891 through 1899, and a high of twenty-five members from 1875 through 1879.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/dmdocuments/NVPoliticalHistory2006.pdf |title=Political History of Nevada |publisher=Nevada State Printing Office |year=2006 |access-date=December 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015122714/http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/dmdocuments/NVPoliticalHistory2006.pdf |archive-date=October 15, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

In 1919 the Senate started a practice called "Little Federalism," where each county received one member of the Nevada Senate regardless of population of said county. This set the Senate membership at seventeen which lasted until 1965–1967. The [[Supreme Court of the United States]] issued the opinion in [[Baker v. Carr]] in 1962 which found that the redistricting of state legislative districts are not political questions, and thus are [[justiciable]] by the federal courts. In 1964, the U.S. Supreme Court heard [[Reynolds v. Sims]] and struck down state senate inequality, basing their decision on the principle of "[[one person, one vote]]." With those two cases being decided on a national level, Nevada Assemblywoman [[Flora Dungan]] and Las Vegas resident Clare W. Woodbury, M.D. filed suit in 1965 with the [[United States District Court for the District of Nevada]] arguing that Nevada's Senate districts violated the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment of the Constitution of the United States and lacked of fair representation and proportional districts. At the time, less than 8 percent of the population of the State of Nevada controlled more than 50 percent of the Senate seats. The District Court found that both the Senate and the Assembly apportionment laws were "invidiously discriminatory, being based upon no constitutionally valid policy.<ref>[https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6602721563950527940&hl=en&as_sdt=2&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr Dungan v. Sawyer, 250 F.Supp. 480 (1965)]</ref>" It was ordered that Governor [[Grant Sawyer]] call a Special Session to submit a constitutionally valid [[Redistricting|reapportionment plan]].<ref>[https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=6602721563950527940&hl=en&as_sdt=2&as_vis=1&oi=scholarr Dungan v. Sawyer, 250 F.Supp. 480 (1965)]</ref> The 11th Special Session lasted from October 25, 1965 through November 13, 1965 and a plan was adopted to increase the size of the Senate from 17 to 20.

===Modern Eraera (1967–present)===

The first election after the judicial intervention and newly adopted apportionment law was 1966 and its subsequent legislature consisted of 40 members from the Assembly and 20 members from the Senate. Nine incumbent Senatorssenators from 1965 were not present in the legislature in 1967.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/dmdocuments/NVPoliticalHistory2006.pdf |title=Political History of Nevada, Pages 284-286 |access-date=December 1, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121015122714/http://nsla.nevadaculture.org/dmdocuments/NVPoliticalHistory2006.pdf |archive-date=October 15, 2012 |url-status=dead |df=mdy-all }}</ref> In the 1981 Legislative Session the size of the Senate was increased to twenty-one because of the population growth in [[Clark County, Nevada|Clark County]]. Following the 2008 election, Democrats took control of the Nevada Senate for the first time since 1991. In January 2011, Senator [[William Raggio]] resigned after 38 years of service.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://media.lvrj.com/documents/RAGGIO_LETTER.pdf |title=Letter to Washoe County Commission |author=Sen. William Raggio |date=January 5, 2012 }}{{dead link|date=February 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> On January 18, 2011, the Washoe County Commission selected former member of the Nevada Assembly and former [[United States Attorney]] Gregory Brower to fill the vacancy and remainder of the term of Senator William Raggio. After the 76th Session and the decennial redistricting the boundary changes and demographic profiles of the districts prompted a resignation of Senator [[Sheila Leslie]], in February 2012, and she announced her intention to run against Sen. Greg Brower in 2012.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lvrj.com/news/leslie-resigns-state-senate-seat-to-run-in-new-district-15-139382028.html |title=Leslie Resigns State Senate Seat to Run in New District 15 |publisher= Las Vegas Review Journal |date= February 15, 2012}}</ref> Later in February 2012, citing personal reasons, Senator [[Elizabeth Halseth]] resigned her suburban/rural Clark County seat.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lvrj.com/news/republican-halseth-resigning-state-senate-seat-139547993.html |title=Republican Halseth Resigning Senate Seat |publisher= Las Vegas Review Journal |date= February 17, 2012}}</ref>

!nowrap style="font-size:80%"|October 26, 2023<ref>Republican [[Scott Hammond (politician)|Scott Hammond]] (District 18) resigned. [https://thenevadaindependent.com/article/termed-out-sen-scott-hammond-resigns-from-northwest-las-vegas-senate-seat]</ref>

The Presidentpresident of the Senate is the body's highest officer, although they only vote in the case of a tie, and only on procedural matters. Per Article 5, Section 17 of the Nevada Constitution, the [[Lieutenantlieutenant Governorgovernor of Nevada]] serves as Senate Presidentpresident. In their absence, the [[Presidentpresident Propro Temporetempore]] presides and has the power to make commission and committee appointments. The Presidentpresident Propro Temporetempore is elected to the position by the majority party. The other partisan Senate leadership positions, such as the [[Leaderleader of the Senate]] and [[Minorityminority leader|Minority Leader]], are elected by their respective party caucuses to head their parties in the chamber. The current [[Presidentpresident of the Senate]] is [[Lieutenant Governor of Nevada|Nevada Lieutenant Governor]] [[Stavros Anthony]] of the [[United States Republican Party|Republican Party]].

On the first day of a regular session, the Senate elects the non-member, nonpartisan administrative officers including the Secretarysecretary of the Senate and the Senate Sergeantsergeant at Armsarms. The Secretarysecretary of the Senate serves as the Parliamentarianparliamentarian and Chiefchief Administrativeadministrative Officerofficer of the Senate and the Sergeantsergeant at Armsarms is chief of decorum and order for the Senate floor, galleries, and committee rooms. Claire J. Clift was originally appointed by then Republican Senate Majoritymajority Leaderleader [[William Raggio]]. The Democratic Party took the Majoritymajority in 2008 and she was retained until 2010.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nevadanewsbureau.com/2010/05/25/in-surprise-move-state-senate-majority-leader-replaces-long-time-top-staffer/

|title=In Surprise Move, State Senate Majority Leader Replaces Long-Time Top Staffer |author=Sean Whaley |publisher=Nevada News Bureau |date=May 25, 2010}}</ref> In August 2010, then Senate Majoritymajority Leaderleader [[Steven Horsford]] appointed [[David Byerman]] as the 41st Secretarysecretary of the Senate.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nevadanewsbureau.com/2010/08/18/nevada-senate-majority-leader-picks-census-bureau-liaison-to-serve-in-top-administrative-post/ |title=Nevada Senate Majority Leader Picks Census Bureau Liaison to Serve in Top Administrative Post |publisher=Nevada News Bureau |date=August 18, 2010}}</ref> The day after the 2014 Generalgeneral Electionelection, David Byerman was removed from his position and the previous Secretarysecretary, Claire J. Clift, was re-appointed.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.nevadaappeal.com/news/13707265-113/senate-clift-claire-nevada |title=Claire Clift to return as Senate Secretary |publisher=Nevada Appeal |date=November 8, 2014}}</ref> Retired Chiefchief of Police,police Robert G. Milby was chosen as the Senate Sergeantsergeant at Armsarms for the 78th Legislative by the Republican Majoritymajority Leaderleader. Both of the elected non-member officers serve at the pleasure of the Senate, thus they have a two-year term until the succeeding session. The Senate also approves by resolution the remainder of the nonpartisan Senate Session staff to work until the remainder of the 120 calendar day session.

| [[Minority leader|Minority Leader]] || [[HeidiRobin GansertL. Titus|Robin Titus]] || {{Party shading/Republican}} | Republican|| [[Nevada's 15th17th Senate district|District 1517]]

| 2122, 29

| 9, 3542

| 8, 4235

| 1921, 2341

| 2219, 4123

Standing committees in the Senate have their jurisdiction set by the Senate Rules as adopted through Senate Resolution 1. To see an overview of the jurisdictions of standing committees in the Senate, see Standing Rules of the Senate, Section V, Rule 40.