The Bundesrat's 1000th session took place on 12 February 2021 and was opened with a speech by President of Germany Frank-Walter Steinmeier.

The first basic law (Bundesakte) of the German Confederation listed how many votes a member state had, for two different formations of the diet.

Whilst appointed by state governments just as today, the delegates of the original Bundesrat—as those of the Reichsrat—were usually high-ranking civil servants, not cabinet members.

The original Bundesrat was very powerful; it had the right of legislative initiative and every bill (including the budget) needed its consent, equaling it to the popularly elected Reichstag.

In the revolution of 1918, the revolutionary organ Rat der Volksbeauftragten ("Council of People's Representatives") limited the power of the Bundesrat to its administrative functions.

A Staatenausschuss (committee of states) accompanied the reform of Germany but had no official role in installing the new constitution.

However, overruling the Reichsrat needed a majority of two-thirds in the Reichstag, which consisted of many parties differing in opinion.

So, in most cases, bills vetoed by the Reichsrat failed due to the lack of unity among the Reichstag's constituent parties.

With the founding of the Federal Republic of Germany after the Second World War and the adoption of the Basic Law as the new constitution, the chamber of states was re-established, again under the name 'Bundesrat'.

The Bundesrat is one of three constitutional bodies (along with the Bundestag and the federal government) that have the right of initiative for the legislative process.

In addition, government legislative initiatives must be formally brought to the attention of the Bundesrat, which has to respond to them with a statement.

The bill can only be discussed in the Bundestag once this statement has been made (so the Bundesrat does not yet vote on the motion here, but it can significantly delay it).

Conversely, a bill proposed by the Bundesrat must first be submitted to the Federal Government for a statement before the Bundestag can deal with it.

If such a consensus does not exist (which is often the case, as most state governments are multi party coalitions), the delegation must abstain, which in effect has the same result as a no vote.

However, in the case of ‘approval laws’ in particular, if the Bundesrat rejects a bill, the matter is often referred to the so-called mediation committee, a body made up of an equal number of members of the Bundestag and Bundesrat, which attempts to negotiate whether the bill can find the approval of both chambers with certain amendments.

It is even possible for the Bundesrat to first propose a bill and then reject it after the law has been passed in the Bundestag because the majority in the chamber has changed in the meantime.

[citation needed] For the Federal Diet of 1815, the basic law (Bundesakte) established two different formations.

This was regarded as a clausula antiborussica, counterbalancing the dominant position of Prussia, which still contained roughly two-thirds of the German population.

The composition of the Bundesrat is different from other similar legislative bodies representing states (such as the Russian Federation Council or the U.S. Senate).

They do not enjoy a free mandate (for example, most parliamentary privileges in the Bundesrat can be exercised only by a Land, not an individual member) and serve only as long as they are representing their state, not for a fixed period of time.

[4] The latter right was most famously used in 2002 by then-Hamburg Senator Ronald Schill, who gave an inflammatory speech that was widely denounced.

[5] Normally, a state delegation consists of the Minister-President (called Governing Mayor in Berlin, President of the Senate in Bremen and First Mayor in Hamburg) and other cabinet ministers (called senators in Berlin, Bremen, and Hamburg).

States with more than By convention, SPD-led Länder are summarized as A-Länder, while those with governments led by CDU or CSU are called B-Länder.

Between 1949 and 1990, West Berlin was represented by four members, elected by its Senate, but owing to the city's ambiguous legal status, they did not have voting rights.

For laws which require explicit Bundesrat consent (Zustimmungsgesetze, consent laws) these abstentions mean that several political parties represented in the Bundesrat possess a de facto veto on legislation, as they can block the votes of 35 or more seats.

[12] For the 16 years prior under chancellor Angela Merkel, the Greens held such a veto, and used it to prop up the price of emissions certificates.

If an agreement fails, the government tends to shelve laws to avoid appearing incapable of acting.

[citation needed] The Bundesrat typically schedules plenary sessions once a month for the purpose of voting on legislation prepared in committee.

Some observers claim that the opposing majorities lead to an increase in backroom politics, where small groups of high-tier leaders make all the important decisions and the Bundestag representatives have a choice only between agreeing with them or not getting anything done at all.

This is hoped to increase the institution's popularity, reduce Land bureaucracy influence on legislation,[clarification needed] make opposing majorities less likely, make the legislative process more transparent, and generally set a new standard of democratic, rather than bureaucratic leadership.