These sample phrases are automatically selected from various online information sources to reflect the current use of the word “single-camera”. The views expressed in the examples do not represent the views of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us your feedback. Because of the 2009 legislative stalemate, former Congressman Rick Lazio, a potential gubernatorial candidate, proposed that New York adopt the unicameral mechanism. [11] Many sub-national entities have unicameral legislators. These include the State of Nebraska and the territories of Guam and the Virgin Islands in the United States, the Chinese Special Administrative Regions of Hong Kong and Macao, the Australian State of Queensland and the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory, a large part of the provinces of Argentina, and all provinces and territories of Canada, of all the German states, all the regions of Italy, all the Spanish autonomous communities, the two autonomous regions of Portugal, most of the states and territories of the Union of India and all the states of Brazil. In the United Kingdom, the devolved Scottish Parliament, Senedd Cymru, the Northern Ireland Assembly and the London Assembly are also unicameral. The U.S. territory of Puerto Rico held a non-binding referendum in 2005. Voters approved the transformation of the Legislative Assembly into a unicameral body with 456,267 votes in favour (83.7%) and 88,720 against (16.3%). [9] Had the territorial House of Representatives and Senate approved by a vote of 2 to 3 the specific amendments to the Constitution of Puerto Rico necessary to move to a unicameral legislature, another referendum would have been held in the region to approve such changes. Had those constitutional amendments been approved, Puerto Rico could have moved to a unicameral legislature as early as 2015. An important structural element of the Legislative Assembly is the number of chambers it has.
The two most common options for the chamber structure are the one-chamber system and the two-chamber system. A unicameral legislature has only one chamber or body that makes decisions. A bicameral legislature has two chambers, often with different procedures and powers, which must ultimately work together to develop policy and exercise other legislative powers and responsibilities. Seven U.S. states, Arizona, Idaho, Maryland, New Jersey, North Dakota, South Dakota and Washington, do have bicameral single-chambers. In these states, the upper house and lower house districts are combined into a single district, a practice known as nesting. Small countries with long-established democracies tend to have unicameral systems, while large countries may have a unicameral or bicameral system. Use the adjective unicameral to describe a government with only one legislative chamber.
The Finnish parliament, for example, is a unicameral system. Although the current Congress of the Philippines is bicameral, the country experienced unicameralism in 1898 and 1899 (during the First Philippine Republic), from 1935 to 1941 (Commonwealth era), and from 1943 to 1944 (during the Japanese occupation). Under the 1973 constitution, the legislature was called Batasang Pambansa, which also functioned as a unicameral legislature within a parliamentary system (1973-1981) and a semi-presidential (1981-1986) system of government. A unicameral system for the U.S. government was proposed by the Articles of Confederation in 1781, but delegates to the Constitutional Convention of 1787 developed a plan for a bicameral system modeled on the English system. The founders of America could not agree on whether states should each have the same number of representatives or whether the number of representatives should be based on population. The founders decided to do both in an agreement known as the Great Compromise and established the bicameral Senate and House system we still use today. The ongoing process of amending or revising the current constitution and form of government is commonly referred to as an amendment to the Charter.
A change to a unicameral parliament was included in the proposals of the Constitutional Commission created by President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo. [4] Unlike the United States, senators in the Philippine Senate are not elected by district and state, but at the national level; The Philippines is a unitary state. [5] The Philippine government`s decision-making process is more rigid, highly centralized, much slower, and politically deadlocked with the United States. As a result, the unicameral trend, as well as other reforms of the political system, are more controversial in the Philippines. [6] Some governments are divided into two chambers – they are called bicameral parliaments. If there is only one house, usually because the government is small or the country is homogeneous, it is called unicameral.