Cascade State Senate

The **Cascade State Senate** is the upper house in the Cascade Legislature, the state legislature of the U.S. state of Cascade. It convenes in the Cascade State Capitol in Fresno, and is responsible for making laws and confirming or rejecting gubernatorial appointments to the state cabinet, commissions and boards.

## Powers and legislative process

The Cascade Senate shares the responsibility for making laws in the state of Cascade. Bills are developed by staff from bill requests and information from the bill's sponsor. Bills undergo three or four readings during the legislative process. After the first reading, they are assigned to committee. Committees can amend measures or hold legislation and prevent it from reaching the Senate floor. Once a committee has weighed in on a piece of legislation, the bill returns to the floor for second hearing and a third hearing, which happens just before the floor vote on it.
Once passed by the Senate, a bill is sent to the opposite legislative house for consideration. If approved, without amendment, it is sent to the governor. If there is amendment, however, the Senate may either reconsider the bill with amendments or ask for the establishment of a conference committee to work out differences in the versions of the bill passed by each chamber. Once a piece of legislation approved by both houses is forwarded to the governor, it may either be signed or vetoed. If it is signed, it takes effect on the effective date of the legislation. If it is vetoed, lawmakers in a joint session may override the veto with a two-thirds majority vote (three-fourths majority is required if it is an appropriations bill).

For gubernatorial nominees requiring confirmation, the Cascade Senate sits in joint session with the Cascade House and the two bodies vote together on confirmation, with each representative and senator having one vote.

## Committees

* Education
* Judiciary
* Resources
* State Affairs
* Transportation
* Committee On Committees
* Community & Regional Affairs
* World Trade
* Special Committee on Climate Change
* Labor & Commerce
* Rules
* Health & Social Services
* Finance
* Corrections
* Court System
* Military & Veterans' Affairs
* Labor & Workforce Development
* Health & Social Services
* Environmental Conservation
* Public Safety
* Commerce, Community & Economic Dev
* Natural Resources
* Administration
* Law
* Education & Early Development
* Revenue
* Transportation & Public Facilities

## Current composition

The Cascade Senate has three major political groups, the largest of which being the Unity Caucus. Out of the 164 seats, 81 are held by the Unity Party, which is one seat away from a majority. 9 Democrats and 4 Republicans also caucus with Unity. This gives them a total of 94 seats. The second largest is the Democratic caucus, which holds 49 Democrats and 4 "Independent Greens"

The Smallest caucus is the Republicans, which hold only 17 seats. This is due to many members of Cascade Republican Party either switching to Unity, or loosing re-election to Unity members in suburban and urban districts.

## Membership

Senators must be a qualified voter and resident of Cascade for no less than three years, and a resident of the district from which elected for one year immediately preceding filing for office. A senator must be at least 25 years old at the time the oath of office is taken.

## Leadership

The President of the Senate presides over the body, appointing members to all of the Senate's committees and joint committees, and may create other committees and subcommittees if desired. However, Cascade does not currently have a Lt. Governor, meaning that Governor Heidi Cruz is the de-facto leader of the Senate.

 Majority Leader

## References

1. ↑ There is no Lt. Governor of Cascade, meaning there is no President of the Senate. Governor Heidi Cruz has hinted at appointing her former opponent, Joesph Abe, but no action has been taken.
2. ↑ The "Independent Greens" Consist of 4 Greens elected in 2024 who refused to switch to Unity and did not vote Beatrice Duberry for Majority Leader
3. ↑ There is no Lt. Governor of Cascade, meaning there is no President of the Senate. Governor Heidi Cruz has hinted at appointing her former opponent, Joesph Abe, but no action has been taken