Trisha Shetty (Editor)

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

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Type
  
Lower house

New session started
  
January 3, 2017

Term limits
  
None

Pennsylvania House of Representatives

Speaker of the House
  
Mike Turzai (R) Since January 6, 2015

Majority Leader
  
Dave Reed (R) Since January 6, 2015

Minority Leader
  
Frank Dermody (D) Since January 4, 2011

The Pennsylvania House of Representatives is the lower house of the bicameral Pennsylvania General Assembly, the legislature of the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. There are 203 members, elected for two-year terms from single member districts.

Contents

Following the 2016 elections, the house consisted of 121 Republicans and 82 Democrats. Republican Mike Turzai was first elected Speaker of the House on January 6, 2015. In 2012, a State Representative district had an average population of 60,498 residents.

The house is the largest full-time state legislature in the United States (the New Hampshire House of Representatives is larger but only serves part-time).

Hall of the House

The Hall of the House contains important symbols to Pennsylvania history and the work of legislators.

  • Speaker's Chair: a throne-like chair of rank that sits directly behind the Speaker's rostrum. Architect Joseph Huston designed the chair in 1906, the year the Capitol was dedicated.
  • Mace: the House symbol of authority, peace, order and respect for law rests in a pedestal to the right of the Speaker. Its base is solid mahogany, intricately carved and capped by a brass globe engraved with the Pennsylvania coat of arms. An American Eagle perches on top. The tradition of the mace may date to the Roman Republic when attendants of Roman consuls carried bundles of sticks wrapped around an axe to enforce order. The tradition is common may also come directly from Pennsylvania's English heritage.
  • Murals: a colorful panorama of Pennsylvania history appear in murals by Edwin Austin Abbey. The most commanding of the series hangs behind the Speaker's rostrum and dominates the wall behind the Speaker. It is called The Apotheosis of Pennsylvania
  • Ceiling: a work of art in itself with its ornate geometry of gold leaf buttoned at the center by a charming painted illustration. In "The Hours", Abbey represents the passage of time in the form of 24 maidens revolving in an endless circle amidst the moon, the sun and the stars of the Milky Way.

    • Speaker of the House

    The speakership is the oldest elected statewide office in the Commonwealth. Since its first session in 1682—presided over by William Penn—over 130 house members have been elevated to the speaker's chair. The house cannot hold an official session in the absence of the speaker or his designated speaker pro tempore. Speaker Leroy Irvis was the first African American elected speaker of any state legislature in the United States since Reconstruction. Speaker Dennis O'Brien was the only minority-party Speaker known in Pennsylvania and only the second known nationwide. Pennsylvania has never had a female speaker.

    Gender Composition

    The Pennsylvania House of Representatives has only 40 women out of 203 total representatives in 2017. This is only 19.7%, which is below the national average of 23.1% women in all statewide legislative positions.

    House of Representatives Leadership

    As of December 1, 2016

    Speaker of the House of Representatives: Mike Turzai (R)

    References

    Pennsylvania House of Representatives Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA