AskBiography Logo   Latest News  Follow Us on Twitter  Follow Us on Google Buzz  Became Fan - Facebook  Subscribe to RSSRSS   Bookmark and Share

Pennsylvania State Senate

NamePennsylvania State Senate
LegislaturePennsylvania General Assembly
Coa PicSeal of Pennsylvania.svg
Term LimitsNone
New SessionJanuary 4, 2011
Session RoomPennsylvania State Capitol Senate Chamber.jpg
House TypeUpper House
Structure1Composition of the Pennsylvania State Senate.svg
Structure1 Res280px
Leader1 TypePresident of the Senate
Leader1Jim Cawley
Party1(R)
Election1January 18, 2011
Leader2 TypePresident Pro Tem of the Senate
Leader2Joseph Scarnati
Party2(R)
Election2January 2, 2007
Leader3 TypeMajority Leader
Leader3Dominic Pileggi
Party3(R)
Election3January 2, 2007
Leader4 TypeMinority Leader
Leader4Jay Costa
Party4(D)
Election4January 4, 2011
Term Length4 years
AuthorityArticle II, Pennsylvania Constitution
Salary$78,315/year
Members50
Political Groups1  Republican Party (30)
  Democratic Party (20)
Last Election1November 2, 2010
(25 seats)
Next Election1November 6, 2012
(25 seats)
RedistrictingLegislative Control
Meeting PlaceState Senate Chamber
Pennsylvania State Capitol
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania

     Home | Legislature | Pennsylvania State Senate



The Pennsylvania State Senate has been meeting since 1791. It is the upper house of the Pennsylvania General Assembly, the Pennsylvania state legislature. The State Senate meets in the State Capitol building in Harrisburg. Senators are elected for four year terms, staggered every two years such that half of the seats are contested at each election. Even numbered seats and odd numbered seats are contested in separate election years. The President Pro Tempore of the Senate becomes the Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania in the event of the sitting Lieutenant Governor's removal, resignation or death. In this case the President Pro Tempore and Lieutenant Governor would be the same person.

The President of the Senate is the Lieutenant Governor, who has no vote except in the event of an otherwise tie vote. Following the 2010 elections, the Senate consisted of 30 Republicans and 20 Democrats, but Michael O'Pake died shortly after being re-elected, which resulted in a vacancy.


Warning: simplexml_load_file(http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/Pennsylvania/State/Senate?orderby=viewCount&max-results=10) [function.simplexml-load-file]: failed to open stream: HTTP request failed! HTTP/1.0 410 Gone in /home/askbio/public_html/index_bio.php on line 257

Warning: simplexml_load_file() [function.simplexml-load-file]: I/O warning : failed to load external entity "http://gdata.youtube.com/feeds/api/videos/-/Pennsylvania/State/Senate?orderby=viewCount&max-results=10" in /home/askbio/public_html/index_bio.php on line 257

Fatal error: Call to a member function children() on a non-object in /home/askbio/public_html/index_bio.php on line 260