A legislative session is the formal period of time when a legislature meets. Generally, bills must pass through both chambers in order to become law. If passed, bills are then signed into law by the Governor or vetoed. If the Governor vetoes a bill it can be overridden by a majority vote of the legislature.
Each state legislature has its own rules and processes. Often, these differ between the House and Senate. In general, the House is responsible for considering taxing legislation and writing articles of impeachment. The Senate is responsible for consideration of non-taxing legislation and writing state budgets. The legislative body is also divided into districts. Each district represents a certain number of seats in the House or Senate. These districts are based on population and geographic features.
The length of a legislative session can vary between states and is usually determined by the state constitution. Typically, sessions last two years and run on an odd/even basis. However, some states have one year sessions. In any case, legislative sessions may not exceed 40 legislative days in a calendar year or 60 legislative days over the biennium.
In addition to legislative sessions, the term also applies to committee meetings where bills are debated. In general, a bill gets introduced in the House or Senate and must then go through each chamber’s policy, fiscal, and rules committees before it can reach the floor for a vote. During this process, amendments can be proposed. If they are adopted they change the original language of the bill; if they fail they remain the same and the bill must be voted on again.
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