The General Assembly is the legislature for the State of Ohio. A General Assembly is the legislature {the Senate and House of Representatives} that is elected for a particular period of time. The 126th General Assembly, for example, is the legislature that convened on January 3, 2005, for the 2005-6 biennium. Its authority to act expired at the end of the day on December 31, 2006.

The first General Assembly met in March and April of 1803. Thereafter, through 1851, every General Assembly convened in December and adjourned in the following calendar year. From 1852 on, every General Assembly first met in January following the election every other year for a session that could last anywhere from a few months to two calendar years.

Beginning with the Fiftieth General Assembly in 1852, the first under the new constitution, a new legislature convened every other year. Under the present state constitution, a new General Assembly meets for the first time on the first Monday in January, or on Tuesday if the first Monday is New Year’s Day, of each odd-numbered year.

The exception occurred in 1906-08 because of a constitutional amendment that moved the elections for the legislature from odd-numbered to even-numbered years.

From the book "Democracy in Session: A History of the Ohio General Assembly" By David M. Gold Reprinted with permission of Ohio University Press, Athens, Ohio and the Capitol Square Review and Advisory Board