Maine General Assembly
| Maine Legislature | |
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| Leadership | |
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Senate Majority Leader
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House Majority Leader
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| Structure | |
| Seats | 186 35 senators 151 representatives |
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Senate political groups
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House of Representatives political groups
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| Elections | |
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Senate last election
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November 8, 2016 |
| Meeting place | |
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| Maine State House, Augusta | |
| Website | |
| http://janus.state.me.us/legis/ | |
The Maine Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. It is a bicameral body composed of the lower house Maine House of Representatives and the upper house Maine Senate. The Legislature convenes at the State House in Augusta, where it has met since 1832.
The House of Representatives consists of 151 members, each chosen from single-member constituencies, as well as three non-voting members. The House is one of the few state legislative bodies in the U.S. to set aside special seats for Native Americans, where there are three nonvoting Representatives from the Penobscot Nation, the Passamaquoddy Tribe, and the Houlton Band of Maliseets. The Senate includes a varying number of members, which may under the Maine Constitution be 31, 33, or 35; the present number is 35.
In 1922, Dora Pinkham became the first woman elected to the Maine Legislature, serving first in the House and then in the Senate.
In 1823, the Penobscot tribe sent what is believed to be their first representative to the Maine Senate. In 1842, the Passamaquoddy tribe also sent their first representative. It appears that prior to Maine’s statehood, Massachusetts allowed the tribes to send in representatives. It is not known what role the representatives played in the legislature until 1907, when records started being kept, and included documentation of where the representatives sat, what they said when they spoke, and privileges that were granted. While the representatives tried to achieve a higher status in the legislature, in 1941, legislation was passed to remove the representatives from the Hall of House, meaning that they held very little power, besides the persuasive power granted by being in the capital. It wasn’t until 1975 when the representatives were once again allowed in the chamber hall with seating and speaking privileges. In 1996, tribe representatives tried to co-sponsor a bill, and in 1999 the tribes were formally allowed to co-sponsor bills. . On 2001, this rule change allowed for Donna Loring to push for a bill, "An Act to Require Teaching Maine Native American History and Culture in Maine’s Schools" to require all public and private schools in the state to teach about Maine history, including Native American history. This act was signed by Governor Angus King in 2001.
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Wikipedia