In California, there are 40 state senators who represent different parts of the state. The bills that the state senators vote on only affect their state. There are 100 members of the Senate and 435 members of the House. Each state gets two Senators, regardless of how many people live in that state. The number of Representatives each state gets, however, is based on the number of people that live in the state.
Senators serve for six year terms.
Representatives serve for two year terms. There are also some things that only members of the House or only members of the Senate can do. For example, only senators can vote on whether or not to confirm the president's nominees for judgeships. In the simplest terms, a bill becomes a law after it passes the Senate and the House and the President signs it. For more information about how a bill becomes a law, visit Project Vote Smart's guide on how a bill becomes a law.