Indiana's Bicameral System

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With fifty states making up the United States, most follow a similar government set up as the federal government. With the exception of Nebraska, each state is made up of a bicameral legislature. In a bicameral legislature, there are two separate houses, one being the upper house and one being the lower. The Indiana General Assembly is the state legislature of Indiana. Being bicameral, the Indiana General Assembly consists of the upper house, the Indiana Senate, and the lower house, the Indiana House of Representatives. While Indiana follows a very similar bicameral system as the federal government, Nebraska became the only state with a unicameral state legislature in 1934, meeting for the first time in 1937 (NCSL 2016). In this paper I will …show more content…

Because of this, if the majority is the same party in the House and the Senate, cooperation is much more likely to exist within the legislative branch. If the executive branch is also held by the same party as the legislative, the institutions are also more likely to get along. In Indiana, state institutions cooperate well together when the majority party is held throughout the branches. However, in Nebraska, the state legislator is nonpartisan. Because of this, no political party can hold the majority. With the legislation being nonpartisan, it makes it easier for things to get done, because there is less scuffle between the political parties. George Norris was a Nebraskan Republican that helped lead the state to its current unicameral system back in the 1930s (Nebraska Legislature 2016). He stated that with a unicameral system, senators are more focused on local issues than being influenced by party politics (Nebraska Legislature 2016). Indiana and Nebraska are different when it comes to how well the state institutions get along because Indiana has political parties holding majorities and Nebraska remains nonpartisan. In Indiana, the General Assembly has more power over the executive and judicial branch because of the state constitution. The Indiana State constitution gives the legislative branch the power to create the size of courts and districts in the judiciary system, which allows the state legislation the power to regulate the judicial branch. The state constitution also gives a lot of power to the General Assembly over the executive branch, like giving the legislative branch authority to monitor the activities of the executive branch (Ind. Const. art.

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