State of Ohio - Senate

About Us

In 1912, a fourth constitutional convention was held. Several famous politicians, including Theodore Roosevelt, William Jennings Bryan, and President William H. Taft, addressed the convention. The convention representatives agreed to refine
the Governor's veto power over legislation and to give legislators the authority to pass labor laws. Delegates also decided to grant municipalities ''home rule'' authority ? the power of a local government to self-regulate.

Fifty-five years later, voters approved a constitutional amendment establishing the General Assembly's makeup as the 99-member House and 33-member Senate we know today. Later voters approved an amendment requiring the governor and lieutenant governor to run together beginning with the 1978 election. Since this change, the Senate majority leader and presiding officer of the Senate has been the Senate President. The Senate presidents who have served since 1978 are Oliver Ocasek, Paul E. Gillmor, Harry Meshel, Stanley J. Aronoff, Richard H. Finan, Doug White, Bill M. Harris, Thomas E. Niehaus, and current President Keith Faber.