Interesting Facts
(Updated 1/29/03)
(Updated 1/29/03)
The Missouri Senate currently has 34 members -- 27 men and 7 women.
The Senate has 16 standing committees.
Occupationally, the Senate has 15 businessmen engaged in real estate, insurance, finance, etc.; 1 publisher, 1 physician, 2 educators, 4 farmers, 6 attorneys, 1 caseworker and 4 public servants.
The average age of current members of the Missouri Senate is 55.
Senator Michael Kinney was the oldest senator who ever served and served the longest, 56 years. He was elected in 1912 and retired in 1968 at the age of 93.
Missouri's first woman senator, Mary Gant, served from 1972 until 1980.
At least 42 Missouri Senators have attained higher statewide office or became a U.S. senator or congressman for Missouri.
Senator J. O. Morrison and Sen. James L. Mathewson were the longest serving presidents pro tem in Missouri history. They each served for eight years.
Senator Theodore McNeal, elected in 1960, was Missouri's first African-American senator.
More than half of all senators reside in one of Missouri's three largest metropolitan areas (Kansas City, St. Louis and Springfield).
Senator Gwen Giles, elected in 1977, was the first African-American woman to serve as a Missouri senator.
Twenty-five current state senators have served previously in the Missouri House of Representatives.
Each senator represents a district of approximately 164,000 people.
The geographic size of senatorial districts ranges from a few square miles in some urban areas to 16 counties in some rural areas.
Twenty senators are Republicans, and 14 are Democrats.
The Legislature is in session from early January to mid-May each year.
Senators meet in Jefferson City from midafternoon Mondays to midafternoon Thursdays.
Senators are paid an annual salary of $31,351.
All Senate meetings are open to the public and the media.
The shortest bill introduced in the Senate was one line long. One of the longest bills introduced was SB 52 (897 pages) in 1993.
Some of the most debated subjects in the Senate are taxes, education and crime.
