1.
Term of office
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A term of office is the length of time a person serves in a particular elected office. In many jurisdictions there is a limit on how long terms of office may be before the officeholder must be subject to re-election. Some jurisdictions exercise term limits, setting a number of terms an individual may hold in a particular office. Being the origin of the Westminster system, aspects of the United Kingdoms system of government are replicated in other countries. The monarch serves as head of state until his or her death or abdication, in the United Kingdom Members of Parliament in the House of Commons are elected for the duration of the parliament. Following dissolution of the Parliament, an election is held which consists of simultaneous elections for all seats. For most MPs this means that their terms of office are identical to the duration of the Parliament, an MP elected in a by-election mid-way through a Parliament, regardless of how long they have occupied the seat, is not exempt from facing re-election at the next general election. The Septennial Act 1715 provided that a Parliament expired seven years after it had been summoned, prior to the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 parliaments had no minimum duration. Parliaments could be dissolved early by the monarch at the Prime Ministers request, the Fixed-term Parliaments Act 2011 mandated that Parliaments should last their full five years. Early dissolution is possible, but under much more limited circumstances. Hereditary peers and life peers retain membership of the House of Lords for life, Lords Spiritual hold membership of the House of Lords until the end of their time as bishops, though a senior bishop may be made a life peer upon the end of their bishopric. The devolved administrations in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland are variations on the system of government used at Westminster, the office of the leader of the devolved administrations has no numeric term limit imposed upon it. However, in the case of the Scottish Government and the Welsh Assembly Government there are fixed terms for which the legislatures can sit and this is imposed at four years. Elections may be held before this time but only if no administration can be formed, offices of local government other regional elected officials follow similar rules to the national offices discussed above, with persons elected to fixed terms of a few years. Federal judges have different terms in office, however, the majority of the federal judiciary, Article III judges, such as those of the Supreme Court, courts of appeal, and federal district courts, serve for life. The terms of office for officials in state governments according to the provisions of state constitutions. The term for state governors is four years in all states but Vermont and New Hampshire, the National Conference of State Legislatures reported in January 2007 that among state legislatures,44 states had terms of office for the lower house of the state legislature at two years. Five had terms of office at four years,37 states had terms of office for the upper house of the state legislature at four years
2.
Thomas Chittenden
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During his first term after his return to office, Vermont was admitted to the Union as the 14th state. Chittenden was born in East Guilford in the Colony of Connecticut on January 6,1730 and he married Elizabeth Meigs on October 4,1749, in Salisbury, Connecticut. The couple had four sons and six daughters while they were living in Connecticut, all the children survived to adulthood. He was justice of the peace in Salisbury and a member of the Colonial Assembly from 1765 to 1769 and he served in Connecticuts 14th Regiment from 1767 to 1773, rising to the rank of Colonel. He was descended from Thomas Chittenden, who was born in Cranbrook, Kent, England, Chittenden moved to the New Hampshire Grants, now Vermont, in 1774, where he was the first settler in the town of Williston. In 1777, a convention was held in Windsor, which drafted Vermonts first constitution, during the American Revolution, Chittenden was a member of a committee empowered to negotiate with the Continental Congress to allow Vermont to join the Union. The Congress deferred the matter in order to not antagonize the states of New York and New Hampshire, after Vermont entered the federal Union in 1791 as the fourteenth state, Chittenden continued to serve as governor until 1797. Chittenden died in Williston on August 25,1797 and is interred at Thomas Chittenden Cemetery, Williston, Chittenden County, citing Vermonts tumultuous founding, his epitaph reads Out of storm and manifold perils rose an enduring state, the home of freedom and unity. An engraved portrait of Chittenden can be found just outside the entrance to the Executive Chamber, a bronze sculpture of Chittenden can also be found on the grounds of the Vermont State House near the buildings west entrance. In the 1990s a statue of him was erected in front of the Williston Central School and his son Martin was Governor and several sons were active in Vermont politics and the state militia. His great-grandson, Lucius E. Chittenden, served as Register of the Treasury in the Lincoln administration, the town of Chittenden in Rutland County is named for him
3.
Constitution of Vermont
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The Constitution of the State of Vermont is the fundamental body of law of the U. S. State of Vermont. At 8,295 words, it is the shortest U. S. state constitution, from 1777 to 1791, Vermont was an independent country, often referred to in the present day as the Vermont Republic. During that time it was called the State of Vermont. Its first constitution, drafted in 1777, was among the most far-reaching in guaranteeing personal freedoms, in particular, it banned adult slavery, saying male slaves become free at the age of 21 and females at 18. The 1777 constitutions Declaration of Rights of the Inhabitants of the State of Vermont anticipated the United States Bill of Rights by a dozen years. The first chapter, a Declaration of Rights of the Inhabitants of the State of Vermont, is followed by a Plan or Frame of Government outlining the structure of governance. In 1786, the Constitution was extensively revised to establish a far greater separation of powers than what had prevailed under the 1777 Constitution. It also provided that the legislature could no longer function as a court of appeals nor otherwise intervene in cases before the courts, as it had often done. The 1786 Constitution continued in effect when, in 1791, Vermont made the transition from independence to the status of one of the states of the Union. In particular, the governor, the members of the governors council, the 1793 Constitution was adopted two years after Vermonts admission to the Union and continues in effect, with various later amendments, to this day. It eliminated all mention of grievances against King George III and against the State of New York, in order that the freedom of this Commonwealth may be preserved inviolate the 1777 constitution established a Council of Censors. This body consisted of thirteen elected members, chosen every seven years and they were to check that the legislative and executive branches of government have performed their duty as guardians of the people. They also had the power to call a convention, if needed and this council had been based on a similar element of the Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776. In 1786, the constitution was amended with language proposed by the 1785 Council of Censors, their first meeting, the section on the Council of Censors remained generally unchanged, with only an added clarification of scope. In 1793, the constitution was amended with language proposed by the 1792 Council of Censors, the Council now had the power to send for persons, papers, and records. In 1870, the constitution was amended with language proposed by the 1869 Council of Censors, their last meeting, the Council of Censors was abolished and replaced by a new procedure to amend the constitution. The Vermont Constitution, Chapter 2, Section 72 establishes the procedure for amending the constitution, the Vermont General Assembly, the states bi-cameral legislature, has the sole power to propose amendments to the Constitution of Vermont. The process must be initiated by a Senate that has been elected in an off-year, that is, an amendment must originate in the Senate and be approved by a two-thirds vote
4.
Government of Vermont
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The government of Vermont is a republican form of government modeled after the Government of the United States. The Constitution of Vermont is the law of the state. This is roughly analogous to the Federal United States Constitution, United States Code and Code of Federal Regulations respectively, provision is made for the following frame of government under the Constitution of the State of Vermont, the executive branch, the legislative branch, and the judicial branch. All members of the executive and legislative branch serve two-year terms including the governor, there are no term limits for any office. The Vermont state capital is Montpelier, in 1791, Vermont joined the United States as the fourteenth state. An in-depth evaluation of government in 2008 ranked Vermont high compared to other states and it ranked highest in small discrete issues and huge global ones. It performed poorly in the issues in-between and planning for the future, the Vermont Constitution guarantees broad rights for its citizens. Adopted in 1793, it contains in its first article a far-reaching bill of rights, the Declaration of the Rights of the Inhabitants of The State of Vermont is believed to have been a model for Frances Declaration of the Rights of Man and of the Citizen later. Vermonts state legislature is the Vermont General Assembly, a body composed of the Vermont House of Representatives. The Senate is composed of 30 state senators, while the House of Representatives has 150 members, State legislators are paid $536 per week while the legislature is in session plus $87 per diem. With the current estimated population of Vermont from the last U. S. Census, the Executive Branch consists of the Governor of Vermont, and state agencies. The executive branch enacts and enforces the laws of the state, the Governor is the supreme executive. The current Governor is Phil Scott, a Republican, the offices of the Governor are located at The Pavilion in Montpelier, the state capital. The governor is paid a salary of $150,051 annually, Vermonters elect a state governor and lieutenant governor on separate tickets. For example, when Republican Governor Richard Snelling died in office in 1991, the executive branch had about 8,000 employees in 2005, making it the largest employer in the state. This high number is due, in part, to Vermont practice of assuming the functions, in 2008, there were 8262 people working for the government. The average salary of an employee was $50,014 in 2008. In 2010, state employees agreed to take a 3% cut in salary, there are three levels of bureaucracy, at the highest are secretaries and agencies, the next level are commissions, the third are departments and offices
5.
New Hampshire
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New Hampshire is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States. It is bordered by Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, New Hampshire is the 5th smallest by land area and the 9th least populous of the 50 United States. Concord is the capital, while Manchester is the largest city in the state and in northern New England, including Vermont. It has no sales tax, nor is personal income taxed at either the state or local level. The New Hampshire primary is the first primary in the U. S. presidential election cycle and its license plates carry the state motto, Live Free or Die. The states nickname, The Granite State, refers to its extensive granite formations, the state was named after the southern English county of Hampshire by Captain John Mason. New Hampshire is part of the New England region and it is bounded by Quebec, Canada, to the north and northwest, Maine and the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Massachusetts to the south, and Vermont to the west. New Hampshires major regions are the Great North Woods, the White Mountains, the Lakes Region, the Seacoast, the Merrimack Valley, the Monadnock Region, and the Dartmouth-Lake Sunapee area. New Hampshire has the shortest ocean coastline of any U. S. coastal state, New Hampshire was home to the rock formation called the Old Man of the Mountain, a face-like profile in Franconia Notch, until the formation disintegrated in May 2003. Major rivers include the 110-mile Merrimack River, which bisects the lower half of the state north–south and ends up in Newburyport and its tributaries include the Contoocook River, Pemigewasset River, and Winnipesaukee River. The 410-mile Connecticut River, which starts at New Hampshires Connecticut Lakes and flows south to Connecticut, only one town – Pittsburg – shares a land border with the state of Vermont. The northwesternmost headwaters of the Connecticut also define the Canada–U. S, the Piscataqua River and its several tributaries form the states only significant ocean port where they flow into the Atlantic at Portsmouth. The Salmon Falls River and the Piscataqua define the southern portion of the border with Maine, the U. S. Supreme Court dismissed the case in 2002, leaving ownership of the island with Maine. New Hampshire still claims sovereignty of the base, however, the largest of New Hampshires lakes is Lake Winnipesaukee, which covers 71 square miles in the east-central part of New Hampshire. Umbagog Lake along the Maine border, approximately 12.3 square miles, is a distant second, Squam Lake is the second largest lake entirely in New Hampshire. New Hampshire has the shortest ocean coastline of any state in the United States, Hampton Beach is a popular local summer destination. It is the state with the highest percentage of area in the country. New Hampshire is in the temperate broadleaf and mixed forests biome, much of the state, in particular the White Mountains, is covered by the conifers and northern hardwoods of the New England-Acadian forests
6.
Vermont General Assembly
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The Vermont General Assembly is the legislative body of the state of Vermont, in the United States. The Legislature is formally known as the General Assembly, but the style of Legislature is commonly used, the General Assembly is a bicameral legislature, consisting of the 150-member Vermont House of Representatives and the 30-member Vermont Senate. Members of the House are elected by single and two-member districts,58 districts choose one member, and 46 choose two, with the term of service being two years. The Senate includes 30 Senators, elected by 13 multi-member districts and it is the only state legislative body in the United States in which a third-party has had continuous representation and been consecutively elected alongside Democrats and Republicans. The Vermont General Assembly meets at the Vermont State House in the capital of Montpelier. Biennial terms commence on the first Wednesday following the first Monday in January, legislative elections are held in November of every even-numbered year. Representatives and Senators serve two-year terms, one must be a resident of the state for the two years, and of the legislative district for the one year, immediately preceding the election in order to qualify for either house. The House is headed by the Speaker of the House, while the Senate is headed by the States Lieutenant Governor as the Senate President, the Senate President has only a casting vote. More often, the Senate is presided over by the President Pro Tempore, the Legislature is empowered to make law, subject to the Governors power to veto a bill. However, the veto may be overridden by the Legislature if there is a majority in favor of overriding in each House. The Legislature has the power to propose amendments to the Constitution of Vermont. An amendment must originate in the Senate, where it must receive a two-thirds vote, after passing the Senate, it must also receive a majority vote in the House. Any amendment that passes both Houses must be repassed by majority votes, after an elected legislature is seated, again, first in the Senate. The proposed amendment must then be passed by a majority of the voters at a referendum. Only every other Senate session may initiate the amendment process, thus, Senates elected in off-year elections may initiate amendments, but not Senates elected during Presidential elections. Vermont had a legislature until 1836. It added a senate by constitutional amendment, prior to 1915, the legislature opened its session in the fall. In 1915 it began opening in January, the legislature takes a break the week of Town Meeting Day in March
7.
The Pavilion (Vermont)
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The Pavilion is the principal workplace of the Governor of Vermont, located at 109 State Street in Montpelier, capital of the U. S. state of Vermont. The building is built in the French Second Empire style, and houses the offices, reception room, press briefing room. The five story building is a 1971 reconstruction of an 1876 hotel, the first hotel on the site was a three-story building built in 1807–1808 by Thomas Davis. Shortly after construction Davis sold the hotel to Mahlon Cottrill who greatly enlarged the building, rebuilding it in the Greek Revival style, Cottrill established the name The Pavilion, and added piazzas on the south and west sides as in the present building. In 1874 Theron O. Bailey acquired the hotel, razed the building and erected a new ninety-guestroom Pavilion. Steam powered elevators carried guests from the ground to fifth floor, two new ball rooms, dining rooms, and lounges were added – all lit by gas jet. A large two-story Italianate style piazza was added on the side facing State Street. Baileys grand new hotel cost $100,000, and opened in time for the 1876 Centennial of American Independence, for three-quarters of a century the Pavilion remained the grand hotel of Montpelier. An increase in legislators willing to commute, by car, from home to the state house, the hotel ceased operation in October 1966. The state of Vermont acquired the property in 1969, the west and south exterior façades are academic copies of the original building, faithful except for the missing chimneys and cast-iron cresting along the mansard roof. A large two-story piazza wraps around the south and west sides as in the 1876 building. A modernist addition, in the form of a contemporary steel and this wing is to the northwest, directly north of the state library and Vermont Supreme Court. The working office of the governor was moved to wing, providing the office with a dramatic view of the State House dome to the northwest. A ceremonial office for the governor is provided in the State House, the state of Vermont previously maintained an official residence for Vermonts governors called the Chester Wright House at 159 State Street, a large late Georgian style house built in 1809. The Greek Revival portico and terrace was added later in the nineteenth century, the family of Governor Joseph B. Johnson were the last regular residents, leaving the house at the end of his term in 1959. The house was used sporadically until the mid-1960s when the house was due to lack of use. A residential apartment for the governor was built in the northwest portion of the building during the administration of Madeleine M. Kunin. These rooms are used infrequently by recent governors but can be useful to Vermonts governor during emergencies or the legislative session when work is sometimes conducted late into the night, the Vermont Political Tradition and Those Who Helped Make It
8.
Montpelier, Vermont
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Montpelier /mɒntˈpiːliər/ is the capital city of the U. S. state of Vermont and the seat of Washington County. As the site of Vermonts state government, it is the least populous state capital in the United States, the population was 7,855 at the 2010 census. However, the population swells to about 21,000. The Vermont College of Fine Arts and New England Culinary Institute are located in the municipality and it was named for Montpellier, in southern France. The first permanent settlement began in May 1787, when Colonel Jacob Davis and General Parley Davis arrived from Charlton, General Davis surveyed the land, while Colonel Davis cleared forest and erected a large log house on the west side of the North Branch of the Winooski River. His family moved in the following winter, Colonel Davis selected the name Montpelier after the French city of Montpellier. There was an enthusiasm for things French as a result of the countrys aid to the American colonies during the Revolutionary War. The settlement grew quickly, and by 1791 the population reached 117, in 1825, the Marquis de Lafayette visited Montpelier on a triumphal tour of America,50 years after the Revolutionary War. The town developed into a center for manufacturing, especially after the Central Vermont Railway opened in Montpelier on June 20, falls on the Winooski River provided water power for mills. Ten thousand people turned out to greet Major General Philip Sheridan when he visited to address the annual meeting of Vermont former Union officers. He particularly thanked Vermont veterans of the Civil War for their performance at the Battle of Cedar Creek, the town had the first municipal water driven hydro system in Vermont in 1884. Water pressure generated sufficient electricity for streetlights, the state proclaimed October 12,1899, as Dewey Day to honor native son George Dewey, the hero of Battle of Manila Bay and the Spanish–American War. Thousands turned out from the state to his hometown of Montpelier for the celebration, Montpelier is located at 44°15′N 72°34′W in the north-central area of Vermont. The city center is a flat zone, surrounded by hills. Towne Hill runs in a 2-mile ridge along the edge of the city. According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has an area of 10.3 square miles. The Winooski River flows west along the edge of downtown village and is fed by several smaller tributaries that cut through residential districts. Montpelier is subject to flooding in the flat city center
9.
Legislative session
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In each country the procedures for opening, ending, and in between sessions differs slightly. A session may last for the term of the legislature or the term may consist of a number of sessions. These may be of fixed duration, such as a year, a session of the legislature is brought to an end by an official act of prorogation. In either event, the effect of prorogation is generally the clearing of all outstanding matters before the legislature, historically, each session of a parliament would last less than one year, ceasing with a prorogation during which legislators could return to their constituencies. While a parliament is prorogued, between two sessions, the legislature is still constituted – i. e. no general election takes place. In many legislatures, prorogation causes all orders of the body – bills, motions, prorogations should thus not be confused with recesses, adjournments, or holiday breaks from legislation, after which bills can resume exactly where they left off. In the United Kingdom, however, the practice of terminating all bills upon prorogation has slightly altered and this break takes place so as to prevent the upper house from sitting during an election campaign and to purge all upper chamber business before the start of the next legislative session. It is not uncommon for a session of parliament to be put into recess during holidays, governments today end sessions whenever it is most convenient, and often, a new session will begin on the same day that the previous session ended. In most cases, when parliament reconvenes for a new legislative session, each session begins with a speech from the throne, read to the members of both legislative chambers either by the reigning sovereign or a viceroy or other representative. In the parliament of the United Kingdom, prorogation is immediately preceded by a speech to both chambers, with procedures similar to the Throne Speech. Instead, the speech is presented by the Lords Commissioners and read by the Leader of the House of Lords. Prior to 1977, it was common for the federal Parliament to have up to three sessions, with Parliament being prorogued at the end of session and recalled at the beginning of the next. This was not always the case, for instance the 10th Parliament went full term without prorogation, the practice of having multiple sessions in the same Parliament gradually fell into disuse, and all Parliaments from 1978 to 2013 had a single session. Since 1990, it has been the practice for the Parliament to be prorogued on the day that the House is dissolved so that the Senate will not be able to sit during the election period. However, on 21 March 2016, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced that the 44th Parliament, elected in 2013, would be prorogued on 15 April and that a second session would begin on 18 April. Prorogation is now a procedural device, the effect of which is to call the Parliament back on a particular date, in the Parliament of Canada and its provinces, the legislature is typically prorogued upon the completion of the agenda set forth in the Speech from the Throne. It remains in recess until the monarch, governor general, or lieutenant governor summons parliamentarians again, historically, long prorogations allowed legislators to spend part of their year in the capital city and part in their home ridings. However, this reason has become less important with the advent of rapid transcontinental travel, similarly, the provincial legislature for Ontario in Canada was prorogued in October 2012 under similar circumstances, and is alleged to have happened to avoid scrutiny on a number of issues
Vermont statewide elected officials