State Legislative Process

2022 ◽  
pp. 24-51
Keyword(s):  
State Legislatures ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Legislative Behavior ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
Social Differences ◽  
Party Control ◽  
Urban Rural ◽  
Change State ◽  
State Legislative

This chapter explores the history and operation of state legislatures. The urban-rural divide characterizes stark political and social differences that fuel legislative behavior. The content of public policies across the United States is influenced by these divisions and contributes to either the support of or opposition to social change. State legislators are on the front lines of these geographic ideological divides. These variations by region contribute to the increase in single-party control and have generated pronounced policy differences.

Introduction to Faith in State Legislatures

2017 ◽  
pp. 1-25
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Front Line ◽  
United State ◽  
Party Control ◽  
Politics And Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
Change State

This chapter introduces the complex history of the relationships among faith, politics and culture in state legislatures. Each of these concepts is explored by organizing them into three themes: separation, demography and polarization. The direction and content of public policies across the United State are influenced by these elements contributing to either the support or opposition to social change. State legislators are on the front line of these ideological divides. These variations by region contribute to the increase in single party control and have generated pronounced policy differences.

Introduction to Faith in State Legislatures

2020 ◽  
pp. 2173-2189
Author(s):  
Karla Drenner
Keyword(s):  
Social Change ◽  
Public Policies ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Front Line ◽  
United State ◽  
Party Control ◽  
Politics And Culture ◽  
History Of ◽  
Change State

This chapter introduces the complex history of the relationships among faith, politics and culture in state legislatures. Each of these concepts is explored by organizing them into three themes: separation, demography and polarization. The direction and content of public policies across the United State are influenced by these elements contributing to either the support or opposition to social change. State legislators are on the front line of these ideological divides. These variations by region contribute to the increase in single party control and have generated pronounced policy differences.

scholarly journals Lifetime Term Limits: The Impact on Four State Legislatures

2005 ◽  
Vol 25 ◽  
pp. 305-320 ◽  
Author(s):  
Priscilla L. Southwell ◽  
Eric A. Lindgren ◽  
Ryan A. Smith
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
The United States ◽  
Term Limits ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Logit Analysis ◽  
Roll Call ◽  
Party Leadership ◽  
Full Effect ◽  
The Impact

This research examines the roll call voting record of state legislators in Arkansas, California, Michigan, and Missouri in order to assess if there are any substantive differences between those legislators who are nearing retirement due to term limits (“last term” legislators) and those legislators who are at an earlier stage of their legislative careers. These are the only four states in the United States that have lifetime term limits in full effect. Binomial logit analysis of key roll call votes suggests that these “last term” legislators stand apart from their other colleagues on certain issues. This characteristic arises from the increased tendency of last-term legislators to defy the party leadership, albeit on a limited number of bills. This “independent streak” of last-term legislators is even more pronounced among Republican legislators, although this effect is not present in the state of California. Therefore, term limits appear to have a modest, but potentially significant effect on the policy preferences of legislators.

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.

State Conformity with Federal Tax Changes

2010 ◽  
Vol 32 (2) ◽  
pp. 27-51 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michaele Morrow ◽  
Robert Ricketts
Keyword(s):  
Federal Government ◽  
Generalized Estimating Equations ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
Estimating Equations ◽  
The State ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Factors Associated ◽  
Tax Legislation ◽  
Tax Changes ◽  
State Legislative

ABSTRACT: We examine the decisions by state legislatures to conform to or decouple from federal tax legislation. We use a generalized estimating equations (GEE) approach to estimate the parameters of a model of factors associated with the state legislative decisions to conform their own tax systems to accommodate 11 federal tax reductions implemented between 2002 and 2008. Our model predicts that state legislators consider political, budgetary, and ease of compliance factors when considering whether to adopt federal tax changes into their own states’ tax codes. Our results are generally consistent with expectations, identifying several factors that are associated with the probability that a state will incorporate revenue-reducing tax changes implemented by the federal government. Our results also suggest that although state legislators appear to value conformity with the tax initiatives of the federal government, given rising budgetary pressures, state conformity with such legislation is likely to decrease in coming years.

Teaching the Congress and Legislative Process Courses

1983 ◽  
Vol 39 ◽  
pp. 9-11
Author(s):  
L. Sandy Maisel
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Research Group ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
The United States ◽  
Legislative Process ◽  
United States Congress ◽  
Legislative Studies ◽  
Chief Executives ◽  
American Presidency

At the APSA Convention in New York in 1981, the Presidency Research Group ran a very successful panel on “Teaching the American Presidency.” Those in attendance all were convinced that they gained useful insights into their own teaching by sharing experiences with others. In hopes of achieving the same goal, the Legislative Studies Group organized a similar panel of the 1982 meeting. This brief article served as background for the panel.Our panel is “similar,” not “parallel.“ Those in the Presidency Research Group nearly all teach courses on the American Presidency, not on chief executives. The teaching and research interests of our group are more diverse. Some of us concentrate on the United States Congress, others on the Congress and the various state legislatures, still others on the Congress and the various state legislatures, still others on comparative legislatures. The discussants on our panel were all authors of leading texts on the Congress; however, because of the interests of members of the group, this article discusses comparative legislature courses as well.

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.

scholarly journals Institutional Variation and Political Career Patterns: A Look at the Influence of Chamber Size in State Legislatures

2008 ◽  
Vol 29 ◽  
pp. 49-63 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonathan Winburn
Keyword(s):  
State Legislatures ◽  
Term Limits ◽  
The State ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
The Political ◽  
Political Ambition ◽  
Conventional View ◽  
Institutional Variation ◽  
State Legislative ◽  
Chamber Size

State legislators routinely run for the state Senate after having served in the state House; however, this rarely occurs in the other order. Do members simply look to move up based on the conventional view of the political ambition ladder? Alternatively, do institutional reasons exist that make the Senate the preferred chamber? I examine the differences between the state legislative chambers and discuss institutional reasons why members may prefer the Senate to the House. Overall, I find chamber size is an important intra-institutional variable in explaining this variation along with the professionalism of the legislatures and term limits.

Recent Shifts in the Volume, Nature, and Scope of State Immigration Policies in the United States

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. 266-283 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lisa Marie Pierotte ◽  
Min Xie ◽  
Eric Baumer
Keyword(s):  
Political Party ◽  
Geographical Location ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
State Level ◽  
The United States ◽  
Immigration Policies ◽  
Level Variation ◽  
Party Control ◽  
Legislative Activity ◽  
Policy Agendas

We conducted a comprehensive categorization of state-level immigration policies from 2005–2014 and described for this period the nature of growth in state-level legislative activity, the ideological directions of the policies pursued, the breadth of topic areas covered, and the influences of states’ geographical location, political party orientation, and historical experiences with immigration.  Our assessment shows that while all states actively participated in this area of policy expansion, there also is substantial state-level variation in the underlying principles of implementation.  Furthermore, past and current experiences with immigration and political party control of state legislatures, rather than proximity to the U.S. border, shaped the respective policy agendas adopted by states.

Professional Backgrounds in State Legislatures, 1993–2012

2019 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 312-333 ◽  
Author(s):  
Todd Makse
Keyword(s):  
State Legislatures ◽  
Relevant Information ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Legislative Behavior ◽  
Leadership Positions ◽  
Political Factors ◽  
Individual Level ◽  
And Gender ◽  
Occupational Background ◽  
The Relationship

In this paper, I introduce a new dataset of individual-level professional background data for state legislators in 98 chambers from 1993 to 2012. Using this data, I examine trends in the professional backgrounds of state legislators over the period of the study, with attention to institutional factors such as professionalism and legislative turnover and individual-level factors such as political party and gender. In addition, I briefly illustrate three applications of the data. First, I analyze the extent to which district-level demographic and political factors affect the probability that a district will elect a legislator from certain backgrounds. Second, I examine the relationship between occupational background and ideology, identifying the backgrounds that identify moderate and extreme members in each party. Third, I contrast the occupational backgrounds of legislators who hold leadership positions with the membership at large. Taken together, these examples speak to some of the ways in which the composition of state legislatures can reveal interesting and relevant information underlying legislative behavior and institutions.

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