Maryland Senate - Organization

Organization

Maryland's Senate consists of Senators elected from 47 Senate districts. While each Senator has the power to introduce and vote on bills and make motions on the floor, various committees, caucuses, and leadership positions help to organize the work of the Senate. Senators elect a President of the Senate, who serves as the presiding officer of the chamber. They also elect a President Pro Tempore, who presides over the chamber when the President is absent. The President of the Maryland Senate has significant influence over legislation that passes through the body through both formal means, such as his ability to appoint committee chairs and leaders of the majority party, and informal means that are less easily defined. These powers place the President of the Maryland Senate among the strongest state legislature presiding officers in the country.

Once legislation is introduced, it is passed to one of the standing committees of the Senate. There are six such committees. As a whole, the Maryland General Assembly has fewer standing committees than any other state legislature in the United States. Each committee has between 10 and 15 members. Four of the standing committees deal primarily with legislation; the Budget and Taxation Committee, the Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee, the Finance Committee, and the Judicial Proceedings Committee. The Chairs of these legislative committees have the power to determine whether their committees will hear a bill, and they therefore have significant influence over legislation. The Executive Nominations Committee manages the Senate's responsibility to confirm gubernatorial appointments and makes recommendations of approval and disapproval to the body as a whole. Lastly, the Rules Committee sets the rules and procedures of the body. It also has the power to review legislation that has been introduced by a member of the Senate after the deadline for submission, and decide whether to refer it to a standing committee or let it die. Along with serving on the Senate committees, members of the Senate also serve on a number of joint committees with members of the House of Delegates.

While the committees are established by formal Senate rules, there are a number of caucuses that exercise significant influence over the legislative process. The most powerful of these are the Democratic Caucus and the Republican Caucus, each of which has a leader and a whip, referred to as a majority and minority leader and whip. As Democrats currently control a majority of seats in the Senate, their leader is referred to as the Majority Leader, and their caucus is able to influence legislation to a greater extent than the Republican caucus. The Majority Leader and Minority leader are responsible for managing their party's participation in debate on the floor. Party caucuses also raise and distribute campaign money to assist their candidates. The Legislative Black Caucus of Maryland and Women Legislators of Maryland, caucuses of African-American and female Senators respectively, also play prominent roles in the Senate.

Professional services for members of the Senate and the House of Delegates are provided by the Department of Legislative Services, which is non-partisan. Individual members are also assisted by partisan staff members, and those in leadership positions have additional partisan staff. These staff members help to manage the offices of the Senators in the Miller Senate Office Building. Each Senator has one year-round administrative assistant, as well as a secretary who assists them during the legislative session. There is also an allowance given to help pay for district offices.