Lecture 11Outline of Last Lecture I. Types of Primariesa. Closed, Open, Blanket, Nonpartisan, Semi-open, Semi-closed, RunofII. Public Relations Firms, the Mass Media, and Campaigning III. Money in ElectionsIV. 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 servicesIV. The Lawmaking Process Charta. House or Senate Introduction & Referral of a bill b. Committee Actionc. Floor Actiond. Conference Committee e. Governor actsV. Legislative Districts (Single-member, malapportionment) VI. Drawing of District LinesVII. Homework Reading:a. Chapter 5 Parties and Campaigns in the State: Section State Party Organizations and Activistsb. Chapter 6 Legislature: Section Leadership and Role Playing in the States Current LectureCharacteristics 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 POLS 207 2nd Edition 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 jobThe 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 winnero 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 thework 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 recognitionProfessional vs. Less Professional (Citizen) Legislatures - Example of Citizen Legislator: Floyd Esquivel – represents a district in Wyoming, meet in 40 days in oneyear 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 constituentsProfessional 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 legislatoro Today, more states have professional legislators than existed 50 years agoo 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 professiono 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
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