POL 240 State Legislatures

1. POL 240-01
Fall 2015

3. ATour of State Legislatures

9. LAWMAKING
 Creation of Policy
 1,000 laws in single session
 10-12 bills per legislator
 Total: Considering 101,000
bills and passing 19,000
 Revising constitutions and
ratifying amendments
REPRESENTATION
 Representation of Interests
 Components of
Representation

10. CONSTITUENT SERVICE
 Personalized services to
citizens
 What does legislative work
entail?
OVERSIGHT
 Role in legislative process
 Committee Role
 Examples of Oversight
 Conflict with Executive
Agencies
 Impact of “Sunset” Laws

11. APPROPRIATIONS
 Approving State Budgets
 The “Power of the Purse”
IMPEACHMENT
 What is impeachment?
 Stages of Impeachment
 #1: Impeachment
 #2:Trial
 State Examples
 Why is impeachment rare?

13. Name, Number, andType of Chamber

14.  Legislature
 State Legislature
 General Assembly
 General Court
Kansas
Utah
Kentucky
New
Hampshire

15.  Lower House
 House of Representatives
 House of Delegates
 State Assembly
 GeneralAssembly
 Upper House
 Senate or State Senate

16. “The Unicameral”
Senator
George Norris
(R-NE)

18.  Shift from biennial to annual sessions
 Biennial: 31  6; Annual: 19  44
 Changes in overall size
 Slight decrease in state legislators
 About 7,400 state legislators today
 Changes in legislative membership
 Some states have increased their membership, while
others have decreased over time

20. LARGER LEGISLATURES
 Fewer Members =
Fewer Constituents
 One-Party Dominance
 The Legislative Process
 Population and Legislative
Costs
SMALLER LEGISLATURES
 Competitive Elections
 Legislator Role
 Discussion and Debate
 Decrease in committees

24. PEVERILL SQUIRE
UNIVERSITY OF MISSOURI
COMPONENTS OF
SQUIRE MEASURE
 1) Member Salary and Benefits
 2)Time in Session
 3) Staff and Resources
What is the impact
for individual legislators and
the legislature as a whole?

26.  Professional Legislatures
 No extra income
 80% + of full-time job
 Large staff
 Similar to Congress
 Higher population
An example of a
professional legislature
is California.

27.  Professional or Full-Time Legislatures
 Hybrid Legislatures
 Prefer extra income
 66.6% of full-time job
 Intermediate staff
 Middle of population
A hybrid legislature
exists in Louisiana.

28.  Professional or Full-Time Legislatures
 Hybrid Legislatures
 Citizen Legislatures
 Require extra income
 50% of full-time job
 Small staff
 Smaller, more rural states
Nevada is an example
of a citizen legislature.

34.  F = Functional
 Has time, staff, and rules to conduct business
 A = Accountable
 Process open and accessible to public
 I = Informed
 Committees and staff; Review of executive branch
 I = Independent
 Runs own affairs; Oversight, Manages Conflict, Lobbyists
 R = Representative
 Diverse membership (social, economic, ethnic characteristics)

36.  Constitutional Basis
 Powers for House and Senate
 Structure
 Size
 38 Senate Districts; 100 House Districts
 Partisan Composition
 Democrats control House; Republicans control Senate
 Professionalism
 Time in Session
 Member Salary and Benefits
 Staff and Resources

37.  FBI investigation into corruption
among General Assembly
 Legislators accepted bribes to
support horse-racing legislation
 What was the “BOP?”
 What was the “TROT?”
 Revealed how cheaply
legislators would sell votes
 Conviction of sitting Speaker of
the House and fourteen
Assembly members
 After BOPTROT, reform
legislation passed in 1993

38.  Began in 1948
 Nonpartisan agency
 Provides policy
research, bill drafting,
educational materials,
website maintenance

40.  State Legislature
 System used in most states
 District lines subject to majority in legislature and veto by governor
 Advisory Commission
 Advise legislature about boundaries
 Backup Commission
 Draw district lines if state legislature does not pass a plan
 Politician Commission
 Elected state officials (not just legislators) may serve as members
 Independent Commission

42.  Splintering
 Dividing up and diluting lines to deny it power to elect representative
 Packing
 Concentrating partisan voters in single district to “waste” their votes
for single representative and protect modest majorities by party in
other districts
 Cracking
 Splintering or dividing up sizable minority group into several districts
to deny it enough voting strength to elect representative
 Racial Gerrymandering
 Partisan Gerrymandering

43.  Is this a district I can win?
 Can I beat my opponent?
 Issue of Incumbency Advantage
 Can I get money to run winning campaign?
 How are the national and state trends
running?

44. “Vaupel backs revisions to state term limits”
Salter: State term limits still bad public policy”

46.  Status
 Occupation
 Education
 Age
 Wealth

47.  African-American Representation
 Elected in majority black districts
 Impact on civil rights issues
 Hispanic Representation
 3% of all state legislators (14% ofVAP)
 Female Representation
 Significant gains in occupying legislative seats (24%)
 Serve in leadership posts (committee chairs)

48. STATE HOUSE STATE SENATE
House members
represent districts.
Senators
represent districts.

49. DELEGATE
REPRESENTATION
 Representative follows
wishes and preferences of
their constituents
TRUSTEE REPRESENTATION
 Representative listens to
their constituents
 Makes up own mind on
best course of action

51. FORMALISTIC
REPRESENTATION
 Accountability and
responsiveness
 Includes:
 Policy Representation
 Allocative Representation
 Casework
Casework includes helping constituents
with an array of services.

52. SYMBOLIC
REPRESENTATION
 Represents positive values
about politics and govt.
DESCRIPTIVE
REPRESENTATION
 Representation includes
race, ethnicity, gender
 State legislatures should
look like America.
Do they?
President Obama speaks
to students in Arlington, VA

54. SUBSTANTIVE
REPRESENTATION
SEN. ERNESTO SCARSONE
(D-FAYETTE)
 Legislators advocate for
particular groups in society
Sen. Scarsone could
advocate for pro-LGBT policies
for all homosexuals in Kentucky,
whether or not they are in his district.

57.  Standing Committees
 Permanent Committees
 Major Policy Areas (e.g.Appropriations, Education)
 Importance of Rules Committee
 Select or Special Committees
 Temporary Committees (e.g. investigations)
 Focused on narrow issues
 Joint Committees
 Membership from both chambers
 Conference Committees
 Resolve House and Senate versions of passed legislation