State Policy Outcomes and State Legislative Approval

2019 ◽  
Vol 72 (4) ◽  
pp. 929-943 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stefani Langehennig ◽  
Joseph Zamadics ◽  
Jennifer Wolak
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
State Policy ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Election Study ◽  
Survey Responses ◽  
State Legislative ◽  
Legislative Approval

Does the public’s approval of their state legislature reflect their satisfaction with the outputs of state government? Using survey responses from the 2014 Cooperative Congressional Election Study, we consider the roots of public approval of state legislatures. We find that people are more likely to voice approval of their state legislature when it produces policy outcomes that correspond with their interests. Liberals view their state legislature more positively when policy outputs are liberal, while conservatives evaluate their state legislature more favorably when policy outcomes are conservative. These effects are the most pronounced among those who are the most knowledgeable about state politics. Using panel data from 2012 to 2014, we also show that changes in state policy liberalism are associated with changes in state legislative approval. Even though we have reasons to be pessimistic about the quality of citizens’ assessments of state government, our results demonstrate that citizens evaluate their state legislatures based on the policy outcomes they provide.

Gaining Voice

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Christopher J. Clark
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Black People ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
Black Population ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
The State ◽  
Black Representation ◽  
Black Public Opinion ◽  
The One ◽  
State Legislative

This book adopts a multifaceted approach to study of black state legislators across the country. Using the descriptive representation framework, multiple facets of black representation are studied. Black seat share is the primary facet considered, and it is measured as the proportion of seats held by blacks in the state legislature. The black representation ratio measures the black seat share relative to the black population share. Parity exists when blacks are represented in the state legislature at a rate that matches their population share. Legislative black caucuses are also studied in this work, representing the institutionalization of the black presence in state legislatures. The first half of the book shows that while black people are critical for explaining black representation in state legislatures, that institutional and non-racial demographic factors also account for the black seat share, black representation ratio, and emergence of state legislative black caucuses. A “demographics is destiny” explanation insufficiently accounts for blacks gaining voice in state legislatures. The second half the book considers the consequences of black representation in state government. On the one hand, a greater black presence increases education spending, black political involvement, and liberalizes black public opinion. On the other hand, an increased black presence is linked with less liberal welfare policy, in particular in places where Democrats hold the majority of state legislative seats. Thus, an increased black presence in the legislature can be seen as a double-edged sword.

Part III Structure of State Government, 9 The State Legislative Branch

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Williams Robert F
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
Direct Democracy ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
The State ◽  
State Constitutions ◽  
The People ◽  
Legislative Branch ◽  
State Legislative

This chapter discusses the fact that state constitutions create a legislative branch that is substantially different from the federal Congress. Most importantly, state legislatures exercise reserved, plenary power subject only to limitations in the state or federal Constitutions. The federal Congress, by contrast, exercises enumerated, delegated power. In addition, the state legislatures are subject to a variety of limitations on the process of lawmaking that are contained in state constitutions. The chapter discusses the variety of approaches to judicial enforcement of these procedural limitations. Finally, in a number of states, the state legislature's lawmaking power is shared with the people, who can enact or defeat laws through direct democracy, or the initiative and referendum processes.

U.S. State Legislative Committee Assignments and Encouragement of Party Loyalty: An Exploratory Analysis

2009 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 284-303 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kristin Kanthak
Keyword(s):  
Political Parties ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
Exploratory Analysis ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Legislative Behavior ◽  
Party Leaders ◽  
Party Loyalty ◽  
Using Data ◽  
Committee Assignments ◽  
State Legislative

Although political parties in U.S. legislatures cannot compel discipline with the threat of expulsion from the legislature, they can encourage greater party loyalty by strategically bestowing benefits upon favored members. This article explores the use of plum committee assignments to encourage legislators' loyalty to their parties. I outline a theory of how party leaders can use committee assignments strategically to encourage more loyal legislative behavior. This occurs when legislative rules meet two criteria: (1) parties and their leaders can determine who serves on committees and (2) committees have real authority over policy outcomes. I test the theory using data from five state legislatures that differ on the relevant set of legislative rules, finding more party loyalty shown by legislators who receive plum committee assignments when rules meet both criteria and no effect when they do not.

A Theory of Indirect Election

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Wendy J. Schiller ◽  
Charles Stewart
Keyword(s):  
Voter Turnout ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Four Dimensions ◽  
Business Interests ◽  
Party Organizations ◽  
Legislative Choice ◽  
Key Participants ◽  
State Legislative

This chapter analyzes the indirect elections of U.S. senators in state legislatures within a broader theoretical framework of how parties interact with institutional and electoral settings to affect electoral and policy outcomes. It identifies key participants in Senate campaigns during this period—candidates for U.S. Senate, business interests, political party organizations, and state legislators—and constructs a model for how these stakeholders interacted with each other within the structure of legislative choice for U.S. senator along four dimensions—candidate identification, candidate nomination, election criteria, and system responsiveness. It also discusses how an anticipated indirect Senate election might have affected voter turnout in the preceding state legislative election.

The Failed Diffusion of the Unicameral State Legislature, 1934–1944

2018 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 217-235
Author(s):  
Adam S. Myers
Keyword(s):  
Rural Communities ◽  
State Government ◽  
Similar Case ◽  
Case Study Research ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
Government Institutions ◽  
Reform State ◽  
Direct Primary

The early twentieth-century witnessed numerous efforts to reform state government institutions, resulting in the widespread adoption of such reforms as the direct primary and citizen initiative. By contrast, efforts to establish unicameral state legislatures experienced success in just one state: Nebraska. In this article, I examine why movements to adopt one-house legislatures in other states failed in the wake of the Nebraska breakthrough of 1934. Using a most-similar case study research design, I compare the successful Nebraska effort to unsuccessful subsequent efforts in Ohio and Missouri, and I point to rural opposition as being the decisive factor explaining divergent outcomes across the three states. In Nebraska, the lack of malapportionment in the bicameral legislature meant that rural communities did not fear that unicameralism would lead to their diminished influence in state government, but in Ohio and Missouri (where malapportionment was high) rural communities used their structural advantages in state politics to shut down unicameralism efforts. The article's findings suggest that the bicameral state legislature is an important institutional legacy of the bygone era of rural dominance in American politics.

How Do Legislators Assess Administrative Performance? Georgia’s Department of Transportation in the Eyes of the State’s Legislators

2018 ◽  
Vol 48 (8) ◽  
pp. 822-835 ◽  
Author(s):  
John Clayton Thomas ◽  
Min Su ◽  
Theodore H. Poister
Keyword(s):  
State Government ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Department Of Transportation ◽  
Public Performance ◽  
Measurement Systems ◽  
Administrative Service ◽  
Performance Measurement Systems ◽  
Using Data

State legislatures and their member legislators serve as important overseers to state administrative departments, charged to function as principals relative to departmental agents. Yet, we know relatively little about how legislators assess the performance of those departments. This research is designed to improve that knowledge through an exploratory analysis of how and why legislators in one state assess the performance of a large state government department. Using data from a survey of Georgia state legislators, the article explores legislator evaluations of the state’s Department of Transportation (GDOT) and the factors that may underlie those evaluations. The findings suggest that legislators assess administrative performance on three principal dimensions: (a) administrative service to individual legislators, (b) assistance to the legislature as a whole, and (c) performance in meeting the state’s transportation needs. Those assessments appear to be shaped by legislator perceptions of (a) personal interactions with the department and (b) the quality of specific GDOT products and services. These and earlier findings suggest that the focus of public performance measurement systems might be broadened to include measures of personal treatment by administrative agencies in addition to traditional objective service outcome measures.

National Forces in State Legislative Elections

2016 ◽  
Vol 667 (1) ◽  
pp. 207-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven Rogers
Keyword(s):  
Decision Making ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Presidential Approval ◽  
Legislative Elections ◽  
White House ◽  
State Legislative Elections ◽  
The Impact ◽  
State Legislative

The race for the White House is at the top of the ticket, but voters will also choose more than 5,000 state legislators in November 2016. While voters elect and hold the president responsible for one job and state legislators for another, the outcomes of their elections are remarkably related. In analyses of elite and voter behavior in state legislative elections, I show that legislators affiliated with the president’s party—especially during unpopular presidencies—are the most likely to be challenged, and compared with individual assessments of the state legislature, changes in presidential approval have at least three times the impact on voters’ decision-making in state legislative elections. Thus, while state legislatures wield considerable policymaking power, legislators’ electoral fates appear to be largely out of their control.

ARE MAJORITY MINORITY DISTRICTS TOO SAFE?

2019 ◽  
Vol 16 (1) ◽  
pp. 157-175
Author(s):  
Brandon R. Davis
Keyword(s):  
Comparison Group ◽  
Electoral Competition ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
The State ◽  
Policy Outcomes ◽  
Substantive Representation ◽  
Incumbency Advantage ◽  
Negative Effect ◽  
High Support

AbstractHow does gerrymandering affect intraparty and interparty electoral competition in state legislatures? Research has shown that electoral competition produces better representation and that descriptive representation positively affects substantive representation or policy outcomes. However, other studies have found an ever increasing incumbency advantage. I argue that the incumbency advantage within Majority Minority Districts is significant and distinct from that of majority White Democrat and Republican districts. I estimate levels of intraparty and interparty competition among Majority Minority Districts, majority White Democrat districts, and majority White Republican districts in the state legislature of Alabama. I use majority White Democrat districts as an intraparty comparison group because of African American’s statistically high support for the Democrat Party. Using three separate measures of competitiveness, I find racial gerrymandering in Alabama has a significant andsui generisnegative effect on competition within Majority Minority Districts, compared to majority White districts.

In Camera Inspections of Privileged Records in Sexual Assault Trials: Balancing Defendants' Rights and State Interests Under Massachusetts's Bishop Test

1995 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 131-164
Author(s):  
Ellen M. Crowley
Keyword(s):  
Sexual Assault ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
Fair Trial ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
Public Scrutiny ◽  
Constitutional Right ◽  
Case Basis

A sexual assault trial requires a court to balance evidentiary privileges enacted by a state legislature against a criminal defendant's constitutional trial rights. State legislatures enact various privileges which either limit or prohibit the discovery of confidential communications in criminal trials. Such statutes reflect a firmly based legislative effort to protect citizens’ private and personal confidences from unwarranted public scrutiny. When a defendant charged with sexual assault seeks to compel discovery of the victim's privileged medical, psychiatric, or counseling records, a conflict inevitably arises. States and victims assert that courts must respect statutory assurances of confidentiality; defendants assert that their constitutional right to a fair trial and their right to confront the witnesses and evidence against them mandates disclosure. Resolution of this pressing conflict requires a careful balancing of both the state's and defendant's interests on a case by case basis.

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