The Blaine Act, formally titled Joint Resolution Proposing the Twenty-First Amendment to the United States Constitution, is a joint resolution adopted by the United States Congress on February 20, 1933, initiating repeal of the 18th Amendment to the United States Constitution, which established Prohibition in the United States. Repeal was finalized when the 21st Amendment to the Constitution was ratified by the required minimum number of states on December 5, 1933.
The Maryland General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maryland that convenes within the State House in Annapolis. It is a bicameral body: the upper chamber, the Maryland Senate, has 47 representatives, and the lower chamber, the Maryland House of Delegates, has 141 representatives. Members of both houses serve four-year terms. Each house elects its own officers, judges the qualifications and election of its own members, establishes rules for the conduct of its business, and may punish or expel its own members.
Howard Morgan Griffith is an American lawyer and politician who has been the U.S. representative for Virginia's 9th congressional district since 2011. The district covers a large swath of southwestern Virginia, including the New River Valley and the Virginia side of the Tri-Cities. He is a member of the Republican Party and the Freedom Caucus.
In response to court action in a number of states, the United States federal government and a number of state legislatures passed or attempted to pass legislation either prohibiting or allowing same-sex marriage or other types of same-sex unions.
Robert Gerald Marshall is an American businessman, author and former politician, who was a Republican member of the Virginia House of Delegates representing the 13th District. His district included portions of Prince William and Loudoun counties. He is known for his failed "bathroom bill" proposal, which would have forced people to use restrooms that correspond with the sex on their original birth certificates. In the November 7, 2017, general election, Marshall was defeated by nine percentage points by Democrat Danica Roem, the first openly transgender candidate elected to a state legislature in the United States.
Jon Steven Cardin is an American politician from Maryland and a member of the Democratic Party. He currently serves in the Maryland House of Delegates, representing Maryland's District 11 in Baltimore County. He is a member of the Judiciary Committee and the chair of the Civil Proceedings Subcommittee. He previously represented the same district from 2003 through 2015. During that time he was a member of the Ways and Means Committee and chaired the Election Law Subcommittee. Cardin is the nephew of Ben Cardin, the senior United States senator from Maryland. In 2014, he ran for Attorney General of Maryland, but lost in the Democratic primary to state senator Brian Frosh.
Richard Lawrence Saslaw is an American politician serving as Majority Leader of the Senate of Virginia since 2020. A member of the Democratic Party, he served in the Virginia House of Delegates from 1976–80, then was elected to the Senate of Virginia. He currently represents the 35th district, made up of the city of Falls Church and portions of Fairfax County and the city of Alexandria.
Benjamin Lee Cline is an American lawyer and politician who has served as the U.S. representative for Virginia's 6th congressional district since 2019. A member of the Republican Party, he represented the 24th district in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2002 to 2018.
Charniele LeRhonda Herring is an American politician. She has served in the Virginia House of Delegates since 2009, representing the 46th district, made up of portions of the city of Alexandria and Fairfax County, near Washington, D.C.
The Fifty-second Oklahoma Legislature was the meeting of the legislative branch of the government of Oklahoma in Oklahoma City from January 3, 2009, to January 4, 2011, during the second two years of the second administration of Governor Brad Henry. It was the first session in state history where the Republican Party has controlled both houses of the legislature.
Lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) persons in the United States state of Virginia enjoy the same rights as non-LGBT persons. LGBT rights in the state are a recent occurrence, with most improvements in LGBT rights occurring in the 2000s and 2010s. Same-sex marriage has been legal in Virginia since October 6, 2014, when the U.S. Supreme Court refused to consider an appeal in the case of Bostic v. Rainey. Effective since July 1, 2020, there is a statewide law protecting LGBT persons from discrimination in employment, housing, public accommodations, and credit. The state's hate crime laws effective since July 1, 2020, now explicitly include both sexual orientation and gender identity.
The Forty-ninth Oklahoma Legislature was a meeting of the legislative branch of the government of Oklahoma, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It met in Oklahoma City from January 7, 2003 to January 4, 2005, during the first two years of the first term of Governor Brad Henry. It was marked by the passage of a ballot proposal, the Oklahoma Education Lottery Act.
The Forty-eighth Oklahoma Legislature was a meeting of the legislative branch of the government of Oklahoma, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It met in Oklahoma City from January 2, 2001 to January 7, 2003, during the second two years of the second term of Governor Frank Keating.
Lashrecse Dianna Aird /ˌlɔ.ʃəˈɹis/ is an American Democratic politician who represented the 63rd District in the Virginia House of Delegates from 2016 to 2022, which includes Dinwiddie County, and the city of Petersburg as well as parts of the Counties of Chesterfield and Prince George. Aird served on the General Laws, Health, Welfare and Institutions, and Appropriations committees.
William Colonel Smith Jr. is an American politician who currently represents District 20 in the Maryland State Senate. He previously served as a delegate representing District 20, which includes large portions of Silver Spring and the entirety of Takoma Park, in the Maryland General Assembly.
The 118th United States Congress is the current meeting of the legislative branch of the United States federal government, composed of the United States Senate and the United States House of Representatives. It convened in Washington, D.C., on January 3, 2023, and will end on January 3, 2025, taking place during the final two years of President Joe Biden's initial term.
Harry Bhandari is an American politician and a member of the Democratic Party. He is a member of the Maryland House of Delegates, representing the 8th district since 2019. In the Maryland General Assembly, he is a member of Health and Government Operations Committee, 2019-. He is also the former Secretary and currently vice-chair of the Maryland Legislative Asian-American and Pacific-Islander Caucus, 2019-. He is also serving as Baltimore County State Central Committee member since 2018. Bhandari is also the former national secretary of the Minority Caucus of the Young Democrats of America. Upon taking office, in 2019 he made history by becoming the first Nepalese American state legislator in the U.S.
The Fifty-seventh Oklahoma Legislature was a meeting of the legislative branch of the government of Oklahoma, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It met in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma from January 3, 2019, to January 3, 2021, during the first two years of the first administration of Governor Kevin Stitt. The November 2018 elections maintained Republican control of both the House and Senate.
The Fifty-eighth Oklahoma Legislature was a meeting of the legislative branch of the government of Oklahoma, composed of the Senate and the House of Representatives. It met in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma from January 3, 2021, to January 3, 2023, during the second two years of the first administration of Governor Kevin Stitt. The 2020 Oklahoma elections maintained Republican control of both the House and Senate.
The 162nd Virginia General Assembly, consisting of members who were elected in both the House election in 2021 and the Senate election in 2019, convened on January 12, 2022. The legislature is the first since the 156th Assembly ended in 2012 to be of divided party control, with Republicans again controlling the House of Delegates and Democrats holding the Senate.
