days a week during the session. Legislative sessions in both the House and Senate occur on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. Tuesdays and the majority of Wednesdays are used primarily for committee meetings and hearings rather than actual sessions. Tuesdays and Wednesdays in the Tennessee Capitol also take on an eclectic flavor most weeks, as varied and diverse constituent groups set up display booths to inform lawmakers about their respective causes. Sessions begin each year in January and usually end by May; during recent fiscal crises meetings have spilled over into July. The time limit on reimbursed working days and the fact that the Tennessee state government fiscal year is on a July 1 – June 30 basis puts considerable time pressure on the General Assembly, especially with regard to the adoption of a budget. Membership in the legislature is best regarded as being a full-time job during the session and a part-time job the rest of the year due to committee meetings and hearings (for which legislators are reimbursed their expenses and receive a mileage allowance). A few members are on enough committees to make something of a living from being legislators; most are independent businesspeople and attorneys, although the latter group is perhaps no longer the absolute majority of members that it at one time comprised. In keeping with Tennessee's agricultural roots, some senators and representatives are farmers. Lobbyists are not allowed to share meals with legislators on an individual basis, but they are not forbidden from inviting the entire legislature or selected groups to events honoring them, which has become a primary means of lobbying. Members are also forbidden from holding campaign fundraising events for themselves during the time they are actually in session. Leadership Each house sets its own rules and elects its own speaker; the Speaker of the Senate carries the additional title and office of Lieutenant Governor of Tennessee. For over three decades, both speakers were from West Tennessee; this caused considerable resentment in the eastern two-thirds of the state. From 1971 until January 2007, Tennessee had the same lieutenant governor, John S. Wilder, a Democrat. Wilder was re-elected to the position even after Tennessee Republicans re-took the state senate in the 2004 election. However, in January 2007, after Republicans gained additional seats in the 2006 General Assembly elections, the Senate elected Republican Ron Ramsey (from East Tennessee) to the office of lieutenant governor. The