The Legislative Assembly of the Territory of Utah was the legislative branch of government in Utah Territory, replacing the General Assembly of the provisional State of Deseret. The Act of Congress creating the territory in 1850 specified that the territorial legislature should consist of a council of 13 members serving 2-year terms, and a 26-member house of representatives elected for 1-year terms.
In 1869, the Congressional appropriations bill, which also provided for legislative pay and expenses, dictated that all territories should only hold legislative sessions biennially and members would serve 2-year terms.[1] Since the Legislative Assembly was out of session at the time, the Utah general election that year proceeded under the old system, and in its 1870 session the legislature changed the term for members being elected to the House that year to 2 years. Meanwhile, because the Territorial Council members had just been elected to their regular terms, their next election was set for 1871.[2] The end result was that going forward, the House of Representatives would be elected in even-numbered years, and the Territorial Council in odd-numbered years, but legislative sessions were held only in even-numbered years. In conjunction with redistricting in 1880, the election schedule was shifted to have both the House and the Council elected in August of odd-numbered years, in advance of the January legislative session set for the subsequent even-numbered year.[3]
List of Legislative Assemblies
Annual sessions (1851-1869)
After the first Legislative Assembly, which remained in session much longer in order to establish functional operations of the territorial government, regular annual sessions were scheduled for the second Monday in December and set to run for 40 days. The 16th Legislative Assembly adjusted the start of future sessions to the second Monday in January, so that the legislature elected in 1867 did not begin meeting until 1868. In 1882, the length of the session was extended from 40 days to 60.[4]
On occasion, the flurry of concluding business at the close of the session caused a few legislatures to adjourn a day or two past their scheduled conclusion. For example, on reaching the final scheduled day, the 31st and final Territorial Council remained continuously in session for more than four days (102 hours) so as not to adjourn prematurely without having finished its work.[5] Officially, however, in addition to the 1st, the 2nd and 10th Legislative Assemblies were the only others to require a special session (in the case of the 10th, one held in advance of the regular session rather than after).
County map of Utah Territory as of 1856. The white background shows the modern-day State of Utah.
Representation in the Legislative Assembly was apportioned by Governor Brigham Young prior to the initial 1851 election by county.[6] The apportionment was comprehensively revised by the legislature in 1862.[7] As more counties were created thereafter, they shared their representation with the county from which they were created (Rich from Cache and Kane from Washington in 1864, Piute from Beaver and Sevier from Sanpete in 1865).
Congress reduced the number of legislators in 1880 to 12 on the Territorial Council and 24 in the House of Representatives. Together with the creation of Emery, San Juan, and Uintah counties, this forced the Legislative Assembly to devise a new redistricting scheme.[11]
Beginning in 1888, legislators were elected from geographic districts instead of by county after the Edmunds-Tucker Act nullified previous apportionments and again required redistricting of the entire territory. The final district boundaries were set in 1891 by the Utah Commission, which had been established under the earlier Edmunds Act of 1882 to oversee elections in the territory.[12][13]
