POLS 207 2nd Edition Lecture 11 Outline of Last Lecture I Types of Primaries a Closed Open Blanket Nonpartisan Semi open Semi closed Runof II Public Relations Firms the Mass Media and Campaigning III Money in Elections IV Three Core Functions of State Legislatures a 1 Policy making b 2 Representation Policy Representation Casework Pork Barrel Policies c 3 Oversight Outline of Current Lecture I Characteristics of State Legislators a Occupation Education Ethnicity Gender Wealth and Social Status II The Incumbency Advantage a Visibility Money Structure III Professional vs Less Professional Legislators a Professional Legislators full time job low turnover higher salaries provide more services IV The Lawmaking Process Chart a House or Senate Introduction Referral of a bill b Committee Action c Floor Action d Conference Committee e Governor acts V Legislative Districts Single member malapportionment VI Drawing of District Lines VII Homework Reading a Chapter 5 Parties and Campaigns in the State Section State Party Organizations and Activists b Chapter 6 Legislature Section Leadership and Role Playing in the States Current Lecture Characteristics of State Legislators Characteristics of State Legislators Dominant background characteristics of state legislators o Occupation dominated by lawyers deal with laws others include business owners deal with regulations want to shape policy legislator is not always a full time job often 140 days every other year o Education mostly college educated o Ethnicity Race primarily Anglos Whites from 1970s to today significant increase in representation of minorities most notable increase in African Americans Hispanics African Americans and other minorities have been on the rise o Gender on average women hold 20 of legislative seats across the country Why are women underrepresented when women run for state legislator they have an equal chance of winning therefore underrepresentation is primarily due to fewer women running women run less often o Wealth and Social Status upper class background average income is higher than the average income of a resident in the state most state legislators typically increase their wealth while serving in the legislator not because they are well paid but maybe because attracted more business while serving o lawyers take on more cases o being a legislator is like free advertising for one s job The Incumbency Advantage about 90 of legislators are reelected incumbents legislators running for reelection have a big advantage Three major factors contributing to the incumbency advantage o 1 Visibility get media attention for doing their job as a state legislator go back to home town to speak at a meeting quoted in the newspaper newspaper photo when open a new facility etc o 2 Money incumbents attract more money and donations than challengers want to put money towards somebody who is going to win so since incumbents have a better chance of winning groups want to back the winner not the loser want to have clout with the winner o 3 Structure of state legislatures state legislatures are divided into committees based on policy ground budget environment agriculture etc how does that help the incumbent serving on a committee gives an incumbent the ability to specialize in a policy area hopefully one that is important to his or her own district can influence policy that is important to constituents office staf provided to the legislators that can communicate with constituents about the work the legislators has been doing for policy office staf takes calls from constituents who need help office staf keeps constituents happy which helps give the legislator recognition Professional vs Less Professional Citizen Legislatures Example of Citizen Legislator Floyd Esquivel represents a district in Wyoming meet in 40 days in one year and 20 days in the next year for biennial sessions on average serving 30 days a year NO salary pay paid 150 per day about 9000 per year period can get 85 in expenses covered if turn in receipts represents the capital so Esquivel didn t not qualify to get his expenses covered does not have an individual staf he has not office just a desk on the floor of the state legislator to contact him while not in session he had to take phone calls at home if you ask Esquivel what his profession is he will tell you it is an eternity sees his job as a state legislator as a civic duty Example of Professional Legislator L Yee California district over two year period in session 240 days so 120 a year receives 116 000 in salary gets 173 per day while in session to cover expenses but does not have to have proof of receipts his car is paid for by the legislator one office in the capital of Sacramento with 7 state members 2 offices in home district with 7 more staf members total 14 staf members help deal with constituents Professional Legislators 4 features of professional legislatures o 1 It is a full time job o 2 Low turnover not a lot of new legislators added majority of members are returning members low turnover in professional legislatures high turnover in citizen legislatures normally a result of members leaving voluntarily o 3 Salaries are higher in professional legislatures about 30 40 000 a year compared to the 9 000 of citizen legislature o 4 Professional legislators provide their members with lots of services office staf o With all these features professional legislators will likely want to hold on to their job as compared to the citizen legislator o Today more states have professional legislators than existed 50 years ago o others are citizens legislators like Wyoming and states that don t pay their legislators a salary due to civic duty civic responsibility good advertisement for one s own business experience to move up in your normal profession o MOST states about 30 states are going to be between these two extremes o If you say the US Congress is a fully professional legislator score of 1 verse no salary legislators score of 0 Top 3 Professional Legislators California 62 6 NY Wisconsin 44 o TEXAS meet every other year 140 days ranks 15 in the country as a professional legislator o Why do we care about professionalism What diference does it make in session more often can pass more legislation percentage of legislation introduced is higher more professional legislative are more likely to pass complex legislation major reforms are more likely to go through professional legislators CHART The Lawmaking Process House Senate
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