3 Branches Of Government

3 branches of gover nment By Ally Palombo

Legislative Branch • The legislative branch or state legislature is the General Assembly, a body whose 140 members make all laws of the Commonwealth of VA. • Members of the Virginia House of Delegates serve two-year terms, while members of the Virginia Senate serve four-year terms. • The General Assembly also selects the Commonwealth's Auditor of Public Accounts. • The statutory law by the General Assembly is codified in the Code of Virginia.

Executive Branch • The most powerful officials of the executive branch are the Governor, the Lieutenant Governor, and the Attorney General. They are the only three officials elected statewide. All three officers are separately elected to fouryear terms in years following Presidential elections (1997, 2001, 2005, etc) and take office in January of the following year. • The Governor serves as chief executive officer of the Commonwealth and as commander-in-chief of its militia. The Constitution does not allow a governor to succeed himself in office (though a governor is allowed to serve multiple non-consecutive terms). The Lieutenant Governor, who is not elected on the same ticket as the governor, serves as president of the Senate of Virginia and is first in the line of succession to the governor. The Attorney General is chief legal advisor to the governor and the General Assembly, chief lawyer of the Commonwealth and the head of the Department of Law. The attorney general is second in the line of succession to the governor. Whenever there is a vacancy in all three executive offices of governor, lieutenant governor, and attorney general, then the Speaker of the House of the Virginia House of Delegates becomes governor. • Many executive branch agencies have the authority to promulgate regulations. Proposals to create or amend state regulations are often subject to review by the executive branch.

Judicial Branch • The judicial branch consists of the Supreme Court of Virginia, the Virginia Court of Appeals, the General District Courts and the Circuit Courts. • The Virginia Supreme Court, composed of the chief justice and six other judges is the highest court in the Commonwealth (although, as with all the states, the U.S. Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction over decisions by the Virginia Supreme Court involving substantial questions of U.S. • Constitution law or constitutional rights). • The Chief Justice and the Virginia Supreme Court also serve as the administrative body for the entire Virginia court system.

Makes the laws

General Assembly

legislative executive

Senate House of Delegates

Enforces the laws. Makes sure the Laws are carried out.

judicial

Governor

Interprets the laws Judge the laws Decides court cases Decides if laws fit in Virginia

Supreme court in Richmond

B Y E Governor Tim Kane

President Barack Husane Obama

F O R N O w