YMCA Youth and Government (YaG), also known as Youth In Government, or Model Legislature and Court, is a program of the YMCA of the USA that allows middle and high school students to serve in model governments at the local, state, national, and international levels.
The California State Legislature is a bicameral state legislature consisting of a lower house, the California State Assembly, with 80 members; and an upper house, the California State Senate, with 40 members. Both houses of the Legislature convene at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The California state legislature is one of just ten full-time state legislatures in the United States. The houses are distinguished by the colors of the carpet and trim of each house. The Senate is distinguished by the color red and the Assembly by the color green, inspired by the United Kingdom's House of Lords and House of Commons respectively.
The Massachusetts General Court, formally the General Court of Massachusetts, is the state legislature of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts located in the state capital of Boston. The name "General Court" is a holdover from the earliest days of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, when the colonial assembly, in addition to making laws, sat as a judicial court of appeals. Before the adoption of the state constitution in 1780, it was called the Great and General Court, but the official title was shortened by John Adams, author of the state constitution. It is a bicameral body. The upper house is the Massachusetts Senate which is composed of 40 members. The lower body, the Massachusetts House of Representatives, has 160 members; until 1978, the state house had 240 members. It meets in the Massachusetts State House on Beacon Hill in Boston.
The Georgia General Assembly is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is bicameral, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
The Florida Legislature is the legislature of the U.S. state of Florida. It is organized as a bicameral body composed of an upper chamber, the Senate, and a lower chamber, the House of Representatives. Article III, Section 1 of the Florida Constitution, adopted in 1968, defines the role of the legislature and how it is to be constituted. The legislature is composed of 160 state legislators. The primary purpose of the legislature is to enact new laws and amend or repeal existing laws. It meets in the Florida State Capitol building in Tallahassee.
The Florida House of Representatives is the lower house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida Senate being the upper house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted in 1968, defines the role of the Legislature and how it is to be constituted. The House is composed of 120 members, each elected from a single-member district with a population of approximately 180,000 residents. Legislative districts are drawn on the basis of population figures, provided by the federal decennial census. Representatives' terms begin immediately upon their election.
Almanac is a weekly public affairs television program produced by Twin Cities Public Television (TPT) in Saint Paul, Minnesota, and distributed to other channels around the state via the Minnesota Public Television Association. It has aired weekly on Friday nights since December 7, 1984.
The Florida Senate is the upper house of the Florida Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Florida, the Florida House of Representatives being the lower house. Article III, Section 1 of the Constitution of Florida, adopted in 1968, defines the role of the Legislature and how it is to be constituted. The Senate is composed of 40 members, each elected from a single-member district with a population of approximately 540,000 residents. Legislative districts are drawn on the basis of population figures, provided by the federal decennial census. Senators' terms begin immediately upon their election. The Senate Chamber is located in the State Capitol building.
Norma Chávez served seven terms as a member of the Democratic Party in the Texas House of Representatives representing District 76. She was defeated for re-election by Naomi Gonzalez in the Democratic primary runoff held on April 13, 2010, and left office in January 2011.
The government of Texas operates under the Constitution of Texas and consists of a unitary democratic state government operating under a presidential system that uses the Dillon Rule, as well as governments at the county and municipal levels.
Lobbying in the United States is paid activity in which special interest groups hire well-connected professional advocates, often lawyers, to argue for specific legislation in decision-making bodies such as the United States Congress. It is often perceived negatively by journalists and the American public; critics consider it to be a form of bribery, influence peddling, and/or extortion. Lobbying is subject to complex rules which, if not followed, can lead to penalties including jail. Lobbying has been interpreted by court rulings as free speech protected by the First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. Since the 1970s, the numbers of lobbyists and the size of lobbying budgets has grown and become the focus of criticism of American governance.
Frank Vana Chopp is an American politician serving as a Democratic member of the Washington House of Representatives, representing the 43rd district since 1995. His district covers the neighborhoods of Montlake, Fremont, Wallingford, the University District, Madison Park, and part of Capitol Hill, all of which are in Seattle. Chopp served as Speaker of the House from 2002 to 2019.
The Unicameral Youth Legislature, formerly the Unicameral Youth Conference is a four-day legislative simulation in Nebraska, US in which high school students take on the role of lawmakers. Student senators sponsor bills, conduct committee hearings, debate legislation, and discover the unique process of the United States' only unicameral state legislature.
On February 21, 2008, in the midst of John McCain's campaign in the 2008 Republican Party presidential primaries, both The New York Times and the Washington Post published articles detailing rumors of an improper relationship between John McCain and lobbyist Vicki Iseman.
Thomas Kent Norment Jr. is an American politician who served as the Minority Leader and Majority Leader of the Senate of Virginia. He was elected to the James City County Board of Supervisors where he served as chairman before being elected to the Virginia Senate in 1991. According to the Clerk of the Virginia Senate, Norment was first elected as Minority Leader in 2007 and is tied with Senator Richard "Dick" Saslaw for having switched between Minority and Majority leader more than any other two senators in Virginia's history. Similarly, Senator Norment holds the records for the longest serving Republican senator as well as the longest serving Senate Republican Leader in the history of the Commonwealth.
Stephen Richard Wojdak was an American politician who was a member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives and a prominent lobbyist in Pennsylvania, where he was the President and CEO of S. R. Wojdak & Associates.
David M. Gowan Sr. is an American politician who currently serves in the Arizona Senate from January 14, 2019, and previously as Speaker of the Arizona House of Representatives for the 2015–2017 legislative session and a Representative for Legislative District 14 from January 14, 2013, to January 9, 2017. Gowan served consecutively from January 2009 until January 14, 2013 in the District 30 seat which redistricted into District 14 in 2012. In 2013, he was elected Majority Leader of the Republican Party in the House of Representatives. In 2015, Gowan was elected to serve as Speaker of the House. On October 5, 2015, Gowan announced his candidacy for Arizona's 1st congressional district, but withdrew before the Republican primary.
Roger Edward Martin was an American businessman, state legislator, and lobbyist from Oregon. He was an electric equipment sales executive with Martin Electric and served six terms in the Oregon House of Representatives. In 1978, Martin ran for governor of Oregon, but lost to Victor Atiyeh in the Republican primary. Following the 1978 election, Martin became a lobbyist at the Oregon State Capitol.
Steve Hixson Toth is an American businessman and politician serving as a member of the Texas House of Representatives from District 15, The Woodlands area.
Taxpayer-funded lobbying is the practice of using funds that come directly or indirectly from taxpayers for political lobbying purposes. Taxpayer-funded lobbying is one government lobbying another. Essentially taxpayer-funded lobbying is when tax dollars are used to pay lobbyists to go to state or federal legislatures to ask for more tax dollars. "In other words, it's one arm of government trying to influence another arm of government, usually in a publicly funded quest for more money or power."
