Table of Contents

Preface vii

1 Ninety-Nine Chambers and Why They Matter 1

State Legislatures in Historical Context 2

The Lineage of the State Legislatures 4

State Legislative Evolution in the Nineteenth Century 7

State Legislative Evolution in the Twentieth Century 9

State Legislatures Today 9

Number of Houses 9

The Nebraska Exception 11

House Name 12

Membership Size 12

Politics under the Domes: The Representation and Efficiency Trade-Off 14

Bicameral Size Differences 17

Terms of Office 18

Term Limits 19

Constituency Size 22

Geographic Size 23

Multimember Districts 23

Further Explorations of State Legislatures 25

Politics under the Domes: Where Legislatures Meet 25

2 State Legislative Campaigns and Elections 29

Differences in State Legislative Campaign Costs 31

Differences in Electoral Rules 33

District Magnitude 33

Candidate Qualification Rules 34

Primary Election Rules 38

Timing of Primary Elections 39

Redistricting Practices 40

Case Law and State Redistricting 42

Campaign Finance Laws 44

Term Limits 45

The Candidates 45

Candidate Type 46

Recruitment Agents 47

Self-Starters 48

The Recruitment of Women and Minorities 49

How Campaigns Are Run 50

Politics under the Domes: The Art and Science of Doorbelling 52

Turnover, Party Competition, and Elections 55

Term Limits and Turnover 56

Competitive versus Noncompetitive States 56

The Effect of Region 58

Conclusion 59

3 The Changing Job of State Legislator 60

Legislative Professionalization 61

What Difference Does Professionalization Make? 63

Professionalization Levels in Current State Legislatures 65

Examining the Components of Professionalization: Salary and Benefits 66

Politics under the Domes: The Battle to Raise Legislative Pay in South Dakota 70

Examining the Components of Professionalization: Time Demands 74

Examining the Components of Professionalization: Staff and Facilities 76

Who Serves? 77

Age 78

Women 78

African Americans 78

Hispanic Americans 79

American Indians 79

Explaining the Number of Women and Minority Legislators 80

The Impact of Women, Minorities, and Intersectional Interests in the Legislative Process 80

Diversity by Other Measures 82

Education Levels 83

Occupations 84

The Job of State Legislator 86

Ethics 90

Legislative Careers and Legislature Career Opportunity Types 95

Conclusion 96

4 Legislative Organization across the States 98

Where Are Decisions Made in State Legislatures? 99

Legislative Parties 100

Legislative Leadership 103

Politics under the Domes: Who Controls the New York Senate? 105

Committees 110

Career Opportunity Types and Committee Membership and Leadership 118

The Value of Legislative Experience 118

Conclusion 120

5 The Legislative Process in the States 121

Variation across the States 122

The Three Tracks of the Legislative Process: Bills That Die, Bills That Fly, and Bills That Crawl 129

Steps in the Legislative Process 131

Introduction and First Reading 131

Referral to Standing Committee 132

Politics under the Domes: "There Ought to Be a Law," or Why Legislators Introduce Bills 132

Committee Hearings 137

Committee Action and Second Reading 138

Third Reading, Debate, and Floor Vote 139

Same Steps in Second Chamber 142

Potential Conference Committee 142

The Governor's Desk 143

Legislative Time 144

The Budget Process 147

Influences on Legislative Decision-Making 149

Politics under the Domes: "I Voted for That Bill Before I Voted Against It": Why Floor Votes Don't Necessarily Tell the Whole Story 150

Conclusion 153

6 The Legislative Context 155

Public Opinion, Constituency, and the Representational Role 156

Representational Roles 156

Different Views of Constituency 158

Public Opinion, Organized Interests, and Lobbying 160

The Lobbyists 160

What Lobbyists Do 162

Politics under the Domes: Lobbying outside the Box 162

Interest Groups and Campaign Financing 165

Term Limits and Lobbyists 167

Public Opinion and Direct Democracy 168

The Recall 168

The Popular Referendum 169

The Initiative 169

The Governor and the Legislature 171

Setting the Agenda 172

Budgets 173

Veto Power 173

Other Gubernatorial Weapons 175

The Bureaucracy 177

The Courts 179

State Courts and Policy Mandates 180

State Courts, Direct Democracy, and Policymaking 182

The Fiscal Factor 182

The Federal Factor 183

The Local Government Factor 184

Conclusion 186

7 Are State Legislatures Representative Institutions? 187

What Do Election Results Tell Us about Evaluations of State Legislative Performance? 188

How Highly Do Citizens Rate Their State Legislatures? 190

How Much Do People Know about Their State Legislatures and Legislators? 194

How Much Information about State Legislatures Is Available? 195

Politics under the Domes: State Legislators on Screen 196

Do State Legislators Represent Their Constituents? 200

The Dynamics of Representation at the State Level 201

The Components of Representation 201

The Changing Dynamics of the Job 203

A Final Assessment 203

Appendix 205

Notes 215

Index 262

About the Authors 272