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.
Adjournment sine die is the conclusion of a meeting by a deliberative assembly, such as a legislature or organizational board, without setting a day to reconvene. The assembly can reconvene, either in its present form or a reconstituted form, if preexisting laws and rules provide for this. Otherwise the adjournment effectively dissolves the assembly.
Carrie Mae Pittman Meek was the United States Representative for Florida's 17th congressional district, from 1993 to 2003. Having been elected in the September 1992 primary with no general election opponent, she was the first African American since the Reconstruction era elected to represent Florida in the United States Congress, where she advocated for the poor and for members of minority groups. An educator, legislator, stateswoman and a member of the Democratic Party, she served from 1979 to 1982 in the Florida House of Representatives, from 1982 to 1992 in the Florida Senate, and from 1993 to 2003, as a congresswoman in the United States House of Representatives. She was the founder of the Carrie Meek Foundation.
Abraham Kurkindolle Allison was a Florida businessman and politician. He served in the Florida Territorial Legislature and the Florida State House of Representatives. He served as the sixth Governor of Florida, at the end of the American Civil War.
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.
The Florida attorney general is an elected cabinet official in the U.S. state of Florida. The attorney general serves as the chief legal officer of the state and is head of the Florida Department of Legal Affairs.
Florida is divided into 27 congressional districts, each represented by a member of the United States House of Representatives. After the 2010 Census, the number of Florida's seats was increased from 25 to 27 due to the state's increase in population, and subsequent reapportionment in 2012.
Jeffrey D. Kottkamp is an American lawyer and politician from Florida who served as the state's 17th lieutenant governor from 2007 until 2011.
James Walter Kehoe was a U.S. Representative from Florida for one term from 1917 to 1919.
Allen Covington Morris, a distinguished historian and writer, was Clerk of the Florida House of Representatives and Historian of the Florida Legislature. Starting in 1947, he wrote The Florida Handbook then updated it annually and in 1974 wrote Florida Place Names as well as subsequent revisions. He also wrote other books on Florida history and government. In 1952, Morris established the Florida Photographic Collection, now part of the Florida State Archives.
Ralph H. Haben, Jr. is an American attorney, lobbyist, and politician who served as the Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives from 1980 to 1982. Haben graduated from the University of Florida in 1964 and Cumberland School of Law in 1967, and began working as a government prosecutor, first for the city of Palmetto, Florida and then for the Twelfth Judicial Circuit Court of Florida. He eventually became a judge before running for the Florida House of Representatives in 1972. In the House, he served on numerous committees, including the Criminal Justice Committee, and eventually became Speaker. He left the legislature to run for Florida Comptroller in 1982, but lost the only election in his electoral history. He briefly considered a run for Governor of Florida, but decided instead to become a lobbyist for many large interests in the state legislature.
Gilda Cobb-Hunter is a Democratic member of the South Carolina House of Representatives, representing District 66 in Orangeburg County and living in Orangeburg. She is the first African American woman elected to the State House from Orangeburg County. A member of the Democratic Party, Cobb-Hunter is the former representative for South Carolina's 66th district. Following redistricting and the 2022 general election, Johnson is now a member-elect for South Carolina House District 95.
Kathleen C. Passidomo is an American lawyer and politician serving in the Florida Senate. A Republican, she has represented the 28th district, which includes Collier, Hendry, and part of Lee County in Southwest Florida, since 2016. She previously served three terms in the Florida House of Representatives, representing the Naples area from 2010 to 2016. She served as majority leader from 2018 to 2020.
George Abraham Crady is an American politician in the state of Florida.
Ronald Clyde Johnson is a former American politician in the state of Florida.
James T. Hargrett Jr. is a former state legislator in Florida. He served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1982 to 1992. He also served in the Florida Senate from 1993 to 2000.
Mary Ellen Higgins Hawkins is an American former politician in the state of Florida. She served in the Florida House of Representatives from 1974 to 1994, representing Collier County.
Michele Rayner-Goolsby is an American attorney and politician. She has served as a member of the Florida House of Representatives since 2020, representing District 70 in Pinellas, Hillsborough, Manatee, and Sarasota Counties. She is the first openly queer Black woman elected to the Florida Legislature.
