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| At the beginning of each two year session, the members of
the House of Representatives elect a Speaker from their numbers
by a majority vote. The Speaker of the House is responsible
for presiding over sessions of the House and maintaining decorum
and order within the body. In addition, the Speaker appoints
a slate of committee chairs to be approved or rejected by the
majority party's caucus.
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The Speaker is the leader of the majority party within the House of
Representatives and often serves as spokesman for the body as a whole.
Tom Finneran was elected by his peers to serve as Speaker in the spring
of 1996. He has been consecutively re-elected to serve as Speaker
four times since then, most recently in January of 2003. |
