View source for Ohio General Assembly

{{short description|Legislative branch of the state government of Ohio}}
{{For|the current General Assembly|135th Ohio General Assembly}}
{{use mdy dates|date=March 2021}} {{Use American English|date=October 2023}}
{{Infobox legislature
| name              = Ohio General Assembly
| legislature       = [[136th Ohio General Assembly]]
| coa_pic           = Seal of Ohio.svg
| house_type        = Bicameral
| houses            = [[Ohio Senate|Senate]]<br />[[Ohio House of Representatives|House of Representatives]]
| leader1_type      = [[List of presidents of the Ohio Senate|Senate President]]
| leader1           = [[Rob McColley]]
| party1            = ([[Republican Party (United States)|R]])
| election1         = January 6, 2025
| leader2_type      = [[List of speakers of the Ohio House of Representatives|House Speaker]]
| leader2           = [[Matt Huffman]] ([[Republican Party (United States)|R]])
| election2         = January 6, 2025
| authority         = Article II<br>[[Ohio Constitution]]
| members           = '''132''' voting members:<br/>33 senators<br/>99 representatives
| house1            = Senate
| house2            = House
| structure1        = Ohio_2025_Senate_Election_Composition.svg
| structure1_res    = 250px
| structure1_alt    = Composition of the Ohio Senate
| structure2        = Ohio_House_2025_Session_Composition.svg
| structure2_res    = 250px
| structure2_alt    = Composition of the Ohio House of Representatives
| political_groups1 =
{{Unbulleted list|class=nowrap
| {{Color box|#ff0000|border=darkgray}} [[Republican Party of Ohio|Republican]] (24)
| {{Color box|#0000ff|border=darkgray}} [[Democratic Party of Ohio|Democratic]] (9)
<!-- '''Vacant'''
{{nowrap|{{colorbox|#FFFFFF}} ''vacant'' (0)}} -->
}}
| political_groups2 = 
{{Unbulleted list|class=nowrap
| {{Color box|#ff0000|border=darkgray}} [[Republican Party of Ohio|Republican]] (65)
| {{Color box|#0000ff|border=darkgray}} [[Democratic Party of Ohio|Democratic]] (34)
<!-- '''Vacant'''
*{{nowrap|{{colorbox|#FFFFFF}} ''vacant'' (0)}} -->
}}
| committees1       =
| committees2       =
| joint_committees  =
| voting_system1    =
| voting_system2    =
| last_election1    = [[2024 Ohio Senate election|November 3, 2024]]<br>(16 seats)
| last_election2    = [[2024 Ohio House of Representatives election|November 3, 2024]]
|next_election1=[[2026 Ohio Senate election|November 3, 2026]]<br>(17 seats)
|next_election2=[[2026 Ohio House of Representatives election|November 3, 2026]]
| session_room      = Ohio Statehouse columbus.jpg
| session_res       = 250px
| meeting_place     = [[Ohio Statehouse]]<br>[[Columbus, Ohio|Columbus]]
| website           = {{URL|https://www.legislature.ohio.gov|General Assembly}}<br/>{{URL|https://ohiosenate.gov/senators|Senate}}<br/>{{URL|http://www.ohiohouse.gov/|House of Representatives}}
| footnotes         =
|party4=([[Republican Party (United States)|R]])
}}
The '''Ohio General Assembly''' is the [[state legislature (United States)|state legislature]] of the [[U.S. state]] of [[Ohio]]. It consists of the 99-member [[Ohio House of Representatives]] and the 33-member [[Ohio Senate]]. Both houses of the General Assembly meet at the [[Ohio Statehouse]] in [[Columbus, Ohio|Columbus]].<ref>''The Ohio General Assembly Official Government Website'', https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/</ref><ref>''The Ohio House Official Government Website, ''http://www.ohiohouse.gov/index</ref><ref>''The Ohio Senate Official Government Website, ''http://ohiosenate.gov/</ref>

==Legislative agencies==
The Legislative Service Commission is one of several legislative agencies. It serves as a source for legal expertise and staffing and drafts proposed legislation, also helps serve as an advertisement to the general public as to what is happening inside the assembly.

==History==
{{Expand section|date=April 2013}}
The General Assembly first convened in [[Chillicothe, Ohio|Chillicothe]], then the Ohio capital, on March 1, 1803.<ref name=Blue>{{cite journal |last=Blue |first=Frederick J. |title=The Date of Ohio Statehood |journal=Ohio Academy of History Newsletter |date=Autumn 2002 |url=http://www2.uakron.edu/OAH/newsletter/newsletter/Autumn2002/features.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100911164131/http://www2.uakron.edu/OAH/newsletter/newsletter/Autumn2002/features.html |archive-date=September 11, 2010}}</ref>

The second [[constitution of Ohio]], effective in 1851, took away the power of the General Assembly to choose the state's executive officers, granting that right to the voters. A complicated formula [[Apportionment (politics)|apportioned]] legislators to Ohio counties and the number of seats in the legislative houses varied from year-to-year.<ref>''A Brief History of Ohio's State Government,'' https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/publications/a-brief-history</ref>

''The Ohio Politics Almanac'' by Michael F. Curtin (Kent State University Press) described apportionment thus:

<blockquote>The new [1851] constitution ... contained a complicated formula for apportionment, the so-called "major fraction rule." Under it, the state's population was divided by 100, with the resulting quotient being the ratio of representation in the House of Representatives. Any county with a population equal to at least half the ratio was entitled to one representative; a county with a population of less than half the ratio was grouped with an adjacent county for districting; a county containing a population of at least one and three-fourths the ratio was entitled to two representatives; a county with a population equal to three times the ratio was entitled to three representatives. To determine Senate districts, a similar procedure was followed; the starting point, however was figured by dividing the state's population by 35. The ratios for the House and Senate and the resulting apportionment was determined by a board consisting of the governor, auditor, and secretary of state.</blockquote>

In 1903, the apportionment system was modified by the [[Mark Hanna|Hanna]] amendment, which also gave the [[Governor of Ohio|governor]] veto power over the assembly's acts, which could be overridden by a two-thirds vote of both houses. The last state constitutional convention, held in 1912, gave the governor a [[line-item veto]], but reduced the supermajority required for overriding the veto to three-fifths. In 1956, a referendum increased the terms of state senators from two to four years.

The Hanna amendment (which guaranteed each county at least one representative and all members elected at large) guaranteed that rural areas of Ohio would dominate the legislature. However, several decisions by the [[United States Supreme Court|U.S. Supreme Court]] surrounding the legal principal of [[one man, one vote]] mandated apportionment proportional to population. Reapportionment was ordered in 1964. Starting with the 1966 election, the number of seats in the two chambers were fixed at their present numbers of 33 and 99.

[[Ohio Republican Party|Republican]] activists, led by [[Fred A. Lennon]], began pursuing term limits in the 1980s, in 1992, a referendum set [[term limits]] of eight consecutive years in office: four consecutive terms in the House or two consecutive terms in the Senate. Years in office are considered consecutive if they are separated by less than four years. A former member of the legislature who had served eight years becomes eligible for election to the legislature after four years out of office.

== Vacancies ==
The Ohio House and Ohio Senate use slightly different methods to fill vacant seats. In both chambers, a replacement is first elected by the members of the relevant chamber who are affiliated with the same party as the departing member. In the House, the replacement will serve for the remainder of the term. In the Senate, the replacement will serve for the remainder of the term only if the vacancy occurred after the first 20 months of the four-year Senate term. If the vacancy occurred during the first 20 months of the term, then a special election will be held during the next regularly scheduled even-year statewide election. The replacement selected by the party members will then serve until the end of December following the special election, with the winner serving the remainder of the term.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Ohio Legislature|url=https://www.legislature.ohio.gov/laws/ohio-constitution/section?const=2.11|access-date=2020-12-06|website=www.legislature.ohio.gov}}</ref>

==See also==
* [[Representative history of the Ohio Senate]]
*[[Representative history of the Ohio House of Representatives]]
* [[List of Ohio state legislatures]]

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==Further reading==
*{{cite book|last1=Curtin|first1=Michael F.|author-link=Michael Curtin|title=The Ohio Politics Almanac|date=1996|publisher=Kent State University Press|isbn=9780873385404|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PEOIAAAAMAAJ}}
*{{cite book|last1=Gold|first1=David M.|title=Democracy In Session: A History of the Ohio General Assembly|date=2009|publisher=[[Ohio University Press]]|isbn=9780821418444|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=PcTD60p-3twC&q=ohio+general+assembly}}
*{{cite web|title=A Guidebook For Ohio Legislators, 2013-2014|url=http://www.lsc.state.oh.us/guidebook/default.htm|publisher=Ohio Legislative Service Commission|access-date=12 August 2014|format=[[Portable Document Format|PDF]]}}
*{{cite book|editor1-last=Little|editor1-first=Thomas H.|editor2-last=Ogle|editor2-first=David B.|title=The Legislative Branch of State Government: People, Process, and Politics|date=2006|publisher=ABC-CLIO|isbn=9781851097616|pages=[https://archive.org/details/legislativebranc0000litt/page/369 369]–373|url=https://archive.org/details/legislativebranc0000litt|url-access=registration|quote=the legislative branch of state government: people.}}
*{{cite book|last1=Scarselli|first1=Gino J.|last2=Steinglass|first2=Steven H.|title=The Ohio State Constitution|date=2011|publisher=[[Oxford University Press]]|isbn=9780199778720|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4OtMAgAAQBAJ}}

==External links==
*[http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/ Official Ohio General Assembly Website] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100219192046/http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/ |date=February 19, 2010 }}
{{Ohio General Assemblies}}
{{Ohio State Senators}}
{{Ohio House of Representatives}}
{{United States legislatures}}

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[[Category:Ohio General Assembly| ]]
[[Category:Government of Ohio]]
[[Category:Bicameral legislatures]]