State Legislatures In American Politics

A concise and provocative introduction to state legislative politics, State Legislatures Today is designed as a supplement for state and local government courses and upper level courses on legislative politics.

A concise and provocative introduction to State Legislative Politics, State Legislatures Today is designed as a supplement for state and local government courses and upper level courses on legislative politics. The book examines state legislatures and state lawmakers, putting them in historical context, showing how they have evolved over the years, and differentiating them from Congress. It covers state legislative elections (including the impact of redistricting, candidate recruitment, etc.), the changing job description of state legislators, legislatures as organizations, the process by which legislation gets produced, and the influences upon legislators. Many things have happened in the five years since the popular first edition. Significant developments addressed in the new edition include: 1. The rise of the Tea Party Movement, which has contributed to the stalemate in Congress and greatly influenced legislative politics in many states. Indeed, the Tea Party’s greatest impact has been in state capitals, not in Washington, DC. 2. A marked increase in one-party government, resulting in greatest number of states with one-party government in at least fifty years. One-party government, of course, allows for dramatic policy shifts. Thus, governors and state legislatures have been able to make significant policy decisions while Congress and the President have been gridlocked. 3. A dramatic increase in the use of recall elections (Arizona, Michigan and Wisconsin) and referenda to challenge legislative policy decisions (Idaho, South Dakota, Ohio, and Washington), signaling a growing frustration with legislative policies in some states. Recall elections and referenda only occur at the state level. 4. Changes in term limits and budgeting laws in California directly affecting the work of the legislature in the largest state in the Union. 5. Highly visible state legislative policies on hot-button issues such as gun control, taxation, public employee benefits, teachers’ unions, taxation, abortion, immigration and education reform. The conflicts generated by these debates have produced incidents that captured national attention, perhaps most notably when Democrats in the Wisconsin Senate fled to Illinois to break quorum and prevent the Republicans from passing a measure limiting public unions in the state. 6. Efforts to profoundly alter the structure of some state legislatures, such as a measure to substantially reduce the number of legislative seats in Pennsylvania and a proposed initiative to radically increase the number of seats in California. 7. The culmination of a redistricting cycle in 2012 which alters the nature of many legislative districts and the course of politics and policy over the next decade. 8. A rare and historic “wave election” in 2010 that saw the Republican Party gain more than 700 seats in state legislatures.

This comprehensive volume examines the historic and contemporary role of the state legislatures and assemblies of all 50 states, offering insight into important details of how each of these legislative bodies functions. The Legislative Branch of State Government: People, Process, and Politics is one of three titles in ABC-CLIO's About State Government set, offering comprehensive coverage of contemporary American politics at the state level. Each of the three volumes focuses on a specific governmental branch, providing both general information and comparative details on how that branch operates in each state. Ranging from colonial times to the present, this volume takes a broad look at how the nation's state legislative institutions have evolved and operate. Combined with the other two volumes in the set, a clear overview of state government emerges. The Legislative Branch of State Government covers the historical, constitutional, and political environment in which state legislatures exist, then focuses on their functions and processes, the people who serve in them, and their interaction with other key political institutions. A concluding chapter looks at characteristics that make each of the 50 state legislative bodies fascinating and unique.

The Right of Instruction and Representation in American Legislatures, 1778 to 1900 provides a comprehensive analysis of the role constituent instructions played in American politics for more than a hundred years after its founding. Constituent instructions were more widely issued than previously thought, and members of state legislatures and Congress were more likely to obey them than political scientists and historians have assumed. Peverill Squire expands our understanding of constituent instructions beyond a handful of high-profile cases, through analyses of two unique data sets: one examining more than 5,000 actionable communications (instructions and requests) sent to state legislators by constituents through town meetings, mass meetings, and local representative bodies; the other examines more than 6,600 actionable communications directed by state legislatures to their state’s congressional delegations. He draws the data, examples, and quotes almost entirely from original sources, including government documents such as legislative journals, session laws, town and county records, and newspaper stories, as well as diaries, memoirs, and other contemporary sources. Squire also includes instructions to and from Confederate state legislatures in both data sets. In every respect, the Confederate state legislatures mirrored the legislatures that preceded and followed them.

Squire offers a comprehensive history of legislatures, core institutions in American political development

"The book compares and contrasts Congress and the state legislatures on histories, fundamental structures, institutional and organizational characteristics, and members. By highlighting the vast array of organizational schemes and behavioral patterns evidenced in state legislatures, the authors demonstrate that the potential for the study of American legislatures, as opposed to the separate efforts of Congressional and state legislative scholars, is to great to leave unexplored."--BOOK JACKET.Title Summary field provided by Blackwell North America, Inc. All Rights Reserved