Biennial Session Law and Legal Definition
Biennial session is a legislative session held every two years. In the U.S. some state legislatures have biennial sessions that are usually held in odd-numbered years whereas others have annual sessions. Biennial sessions when compared to annual sessions have many merits as well as demerits. One of the advantages of having biennial session is that it affords legislators more time to renew relations with constituents, to mend political fences and to campaign for reelection. Moreover, interval between sessions may be put to good advantage by individual legislators and interim study commissions, since there is never sufficient time during a session to study proposed legislation.
The disadvantage of biennial session is that it is unsuitable for dealing with the complex and continuing problems which confront today’s legislatures. The responsibilities of a legislature have become so burdensome that they can no longer be discharged on an alternate-year basis.
