Iowa Senate

The Iowa Senate is the upper house of the Iowa General Assembly, United States. There are 50 seats in the Iowa Senate, representing 50 single-member districts across the state of Iowa with populations of approximately 60,927 per constituency, as of the 2010 United States Census.[3] Each Senate district is composed of two House districts. The Senate meets at the Iowa State Capitol in Des Moines.

Iowa Senate
Iowa General Assembly
Type
Type
Term limits
None
History
New session started
January 9, 2017
Leadership
Charles Schneider (R)
since March 14, 2018
President pro Tempore
Jerry Behn (R)
since January 9, 2017
Majority Leader
Jack Whitver (R)
since March 14, 2018
Minority Leader
Janet Petersen (D)
since October 22, 2017
Structure
Political groups
Majority
  •   Republican (32)

Minority

Length of term
4 years
AuthorityLegislative Department, Section 3, Iowa Constitution
Salary$25,000/year + per diem
Elections
Last election
November 6, 2018
(25 seats)
Next election
November 3, 2020
(25 seats)
RedistrictingLegislative Service Agency with legislative approval
Meeting place
State Senate Chamber
Iowa State Capitol
Des Moines, Iowa
Website
Iowa General Assembly
Footnotes
  • Even though it is an even-district year, Senate District 49 was on the ballot due to the 2012 redistricting.[1]
  • The results of the election in Senate District 22 were counted, but not canvassed due to the death of incumbent candidate Pat Ward.[2]

Unlike the lower house, the Iowa House of Representatives, Senators serve four-year terms, with no term limits. Terms are staggered so that half the Senate is up for reelection every two years.

Leadership

The President of the Senate presides over the body, whose powers include referring bills to committee, recognizing members during debate, and making procedural rulings. Unlike the more powerful Speaker of the Iowa House of Representatives, the Senate President cannot appoint committee chairmanships or shuffle committee memberships.[4] The Lieutenant Governor of Iowa was the presiding officer of the Senate until 1988, when an amendment to the Constitution of Iowa was passed in a referendum (effective from 1991).[5] The other partisan Senate leadership positions, such as the Majority and Minority leaders, are elected by their respective party caucuses to head their parties in the chamber.

The President of the Senate is Republican Charles Schneider of the 22nd District. The Majority Leader is Republican Jack Whitver of the 19th District. The Minority Leader is Democratic Janet Petersen of the 18th District.

Leaders
PositionNamePartyDistrict
President of the SenateCharles SchneiderRepublican22
Majority LeaderJack WhitverRepublican19
Minority LeaderZach WahlsDemocratic37

Committee Heads
CommitteeNameDistrict
AgricultureDan Zumbach48
Appropriations Charles Schneider 22
Commerce Jake Chapman 10
Education Amy Sinclair 14
Ethics Jerry Behn 24
Government Oversight Michael Breitbach 28
Human Resources Mark Segebart 6
Judiciary Brad Zaun 20
Labor and Business Relations Jason Schultz 9
Local Government Julian Garrett 13
Natural Resources and Environment Ken Rozenboom 40
Rules and Administration Jack Whitver 19
State Government Roby Smith 47
Transportation Tim Kapucian 38
Veterans Affairs Mark Costello 12
Ways and Means Randy Feenstra 2

*All Committee Heads are members of the Republican Party of Iowa.[6]

Current composition
Iowa Senate districts from 2012 to 2022
Current partisan composition
Affiliation Party
(shading indicates majority caucus)
 Total
Democratic Republican Independent Vacant
End 2012 26 23 0 49 1
Begin 2013 26 24 0 50 0
End of 2014 session
Begin 2015 26 24 0 50 0
End 2016 session[7] 23 1
Begin 2017 20 29 1 50 0
End 2018 50 0
Begin 2019 18 32 0 50 0
Latest voting share 36% 64% 0%

Past notable members
SENATE CHAMBER seating chart detail from the 1882 Iowa Redbook


Past composition of the Senate
Main article: Political party strength in Iowa

See also

References
  1. Deeth, John (2012-08-19). "District Of The Day 3: Iowa Senate District 49, Iowa House District 97 & 98". John Deeth Blog. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
  2. Deeth, John (2012-10-15). "Win or lose, Ward's death mean special election". John Deeth Blog. Retrieved 2012-11-02.
  3. Iowa Legislative Services Agency (2011-03-31). "First Redistricting Plan" (PDF). p. 3. Retrieved 2012-11-17.
  4. "The Three Branches of Government". Iowa General Assembly. Archived from the original on 2005-11-10. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  5. "The Drafting of Iowa's Constitution". Steven Cross, Iowa General Assembly. Retrieved 2008-03-10.
  6. Agency, Iowa Legislative Services. "Committees". www.legis.iowa.gov. Retrieved 2018-05-12.
  7. David Johnson (District 1) switched parties from Republican to "No Party" on June 7, 2016.
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