How Do Committee Assignments Facilitate Majority Party Power? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in the Arkansas State Legislature

2012 ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. Broockman ◽  
Daniel M. Butler
Keyword(s):  
State Legislature ◽  
Randomized Experiment ◽  
Majority Party ◽  
Committee Assignments ◽  
Party Power

scholarly journals Do Better Committee Assignments Meaningfully Benefit Legislators? Evidence from a Randomized Experiment in the Arkansas State Legislature

2015 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 152-163 ◽  
Author(s):  
David E. Broockman ◽  
Daniel M. Butler
Keyword(s):  
Natural Experiment ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
Legislative Politics ◽  
Randomized Experiment ◽  
Legislative Organization ◽  
Party Discipline ◽  
Committee Assignment ◽  
Committee Assignments ◽  
Existing Data

AbstractA large literature argues that the committee assignment process plays an important role in shaping legislative politics because some committees provide legislators with substantial benefits. However, evaluating the degree to which legislators benefit from winning their preferred assignments has been challenging with existing data. This paper sheds light on the benefits legislators accrue from winning their preferred committee assignments by exploiting rules in Arkansas’ state legislature, where legislators select their own committee assignments in a randomized order. The natural experiment indicates that legislators reap at most limited rewards from winning their preferred assignments. These results potentially raise questions about the robustness of widely held assumptions in literatures on party discipline and legislative organization.

The Committee System in State Legislatures

1918 ◽  
Vol 12 (4) ◽  
pp. 607-639 ◽  
Author(s):  
C. Lysle Smith
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
State Legislatures ◽  
The United States ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
Legislative Organization ◽  
Practical Operation ◽  
Conference Committee ◽  
Committee Assignments

Every state legislature in the United States is divided into a considerable number of standing committees. In spite of obvious advantages which seem to render it indispensable, the development of the committee system has been attended by great evils. Indeed, it is perhaps not too much to say that with the committee system the worst evils connected with legislative organization and procedure are intimately associated.It is the chief purpose of this paper to point out the principal weaknesses or defects of the committee system in connection with state legislatures generally, and particularly the defects which have appeared in the practical operation of the system in the Illinois legislature; and at the same time to discuss certain proposals designed to remedy these defects.These weaknesses and proposed remedies will be taken up in the following order:I. Defects in the methods of making committee assignments.II. Defects due to the number of standing committees.III. Defects due to the size of committees.IV. Defects due to the lack of a definite and fixed schedule of committee meetings.V. Defects due to the lack of publicity and to the irresponsibility surrounding committee proceedings.VI. Defects due to the insufficient control of each house over its committees.VII. Defects peculiar to the committee on rules and the conference committee.

Majority Party Power and Procedural Motions in the U.S. Senate

2013 ◽  
Vol 38 (2) ◽  
pp. 205-236 ◽  
Author(s):  
Steven S. Smith ◽  
Ian Ostrander ◽  
Christopher M. Pope
Keyword(s):  
Majority Party ◽  
The U.S ◽  
Party Power

The challenges of political representation: gender in a US State legislature

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 13-25
Author(s):  
Mary Eve Spirou
Keyword(s):  
Political Representation ◽  
State Legislature ◽  
The State ◽  
State Legislators ◽  
Future Research ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Content Type ◽  
A Value ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Committee Assignments

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to investigate the role of women in the Georgia General Assembly and determines the impact of gender on the activities of state legislators, specifically in the areas of committee assignments and sponsored legislation from 2003 to 2014. Design/methodology/approach The approach set forth in this analysis seeks to answer four research questions employing quantitative data regarding female legislator involvement in activities of the state legislature and compare these findings with their male colleagues over a ten-year period. Findings Some of the key findings include that female representative sponsor fewer bills and participate in fewer committees than their male counterparts. The only legislative area female representatives exercise greater involvement is in government committees. The paper concludes with policy recommendations on how to address the current standing of women in the Georgia General Assembly. Originality/value A value of this analysis is that its content can support comparative work that can prove helpful to future research goals. As the most comprehensive analysis of its kind in Georgia, this paper contributes to a better understanding of the state legislature.

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