Legislative Effectiveness in the American States

2Citations
Citations of this article
9Readers
Mendeley users who have this article in their library.

Abstract

We develop State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES) for state legislators across 97 legislative chambers over recent decades, based on the number of bills that they sponsor, how far those bills move through the lawmaking process, and their substantive importance. We assess the scores through criterion and construct validation and reveal new insights into effective lawmaking across legislators. We then offer two illustrations of the immense opportunities that these scores provide for new scholarship on legislative behavior. First, we demonstrate greater majority-party influence over lawmaking in states featuring ideological polarization and majority-party cohesion, and where there is greater electoral competition for chamber control. Second, we show how institutional design choices - from legislative rules to the scope of professionalization - affect the distributions of policymaking power from state to state.

Cite

CITATION STYLE

APA

Bucchianeri, P., Volden, C., & Wiseman, A. E. (2024). Legislative Effectiveness in the American States. American Political Science Review. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0003055424000042

Register to see more suggestions

Mendeley helps you to discover research relevant for your work.

Already have an account?

Save time finding and organizing research with Mendeley

Sign up for free