What is gerrymandering (100+ words)?
Who is responsible for it (50+ words)?
What is the reelection rate for a member of Congress?
What is the current approval rating of Congress?
In your opinion, what could be the cause be in the disparity between the answers for questions 3 and 4 (200+ words)?
What did the state of California do to address gerrymandering (250 + words)?
Pick 3 states and research if there is a quantitative connection between the political affiliation of its state legislators and its members of Congress.
State #1 (150+ words) :
State #2 (150+ words):
State #3 (150+ words):
Legislatures
Chapter 7
The Art of Herding Cats
Wisconsin and Minnesota are similar states. They have the same heritage and and until recently similar political values.
In 2010, Republicans took control of the legislature and governor. Once they did, they removed many of the bargaining rights of public workers.
In contrast Minnesota elected Democrats and enacted laws that support gay marriage and expanded medicaid eligibility.
In both states, neither political party has a large advantage with a few thousand voters being the difference. But in 2014 Republicans took over the state senate in Minnesota.
Republicans now control all branches of government in half the states compared to only 7 controlled by the Democrats.
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At this point, many state governments are controlled by a single party with little need or desire to compromise.
Issues such as abortion, tax policy, voting rights, marijuana, or guns will be addressed differently in states like California then it would in Tennessee.
While it is hard to get many things through Congress, State legislatures have an easier time passing laws. This is mostly due to the rules of state legislative branches that allow less opportunity for the minority party to obstruct the majority party.
Even though states are more partisan, if you like political action as opposed to disfunction, the state politics is for you.
In some cases, states have enacted too many laws too quickly which can cause the electorate to become uncomfortable.
In North Carolina, which is controlled by Republicans, they got some backlash for the passage of laws that was labeled “Moral Monday”
In Colorado, that is controlled by Democrats, they pushed through several environmental and gun restrictions too quickly, which caused the citizens to push back.
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The Job of Legislatures
In the state of Indiana, Republicans control 60 seats in the state legislature compared to 40 for the Democrats. Republican policies will more than likely be prioritized. This goes along with the concept of majority rules.
In some instances voting does not follow partian guidelines due to the fact these people want to keep their jobs so they can not vote against things important to their constituents.
Things like logrolling will also affect the bills that get past.
What is logrolling?
Especially at the national level, the system is designed to make creating laws difficult.
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Alexander Hamilton wrote in the federalist papers that “the injury which may possibly be done by defeating a few good laws will be amply compensated by the advantage of preventing a number of bad ones”
Most state legislatures share the basic makeup of the U.S Congress, such as having a House Chamber and a Senate Chamber.
About half the states are more polarized than Congress, with little compromise by member of each the party.
What Legislatures Do
They generally provide 4 functions.
Lawmaking Function
Representative Function
Constituent Service Function
Oversight Function
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Lawmaking
State lawmakers are generally reactive.
What happened with concussions for High School football players?
In 2013, the state of Texas proposed 10,000 bills while the state of Montana only proposed 1,000.
Governors and the executive branch can play a big part in the legislative process.
For example in the Minnesota Vikings threaten to leave the state unless the government helped finance a new stadium. The governor made funding this project his top priority and he was able to push a $348 million bill through the state legislature.
Lobbyist, that represent interests from all sides, spend a lot of time and money proposing bills and also killing them.
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Representation
Most of the work done by state legislatures is to represent their constituents.
A state representative in California, that represents Sacramento (it’s capital) pushed through legislation that protects public employees from doing other jobs after layoffs for the same money. Many argued against this saying that this was common in the private sector and public sector should not be immune to the same reality. This was especially true since the state was having a hard time funding its payroll in the first place.
Much that gets done in the state level has to do with new members, thus leaders, getting elected, bringing in new priorities.
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Constituent Service
This is where members of state legislature negotiate with public entities or even private corporations on behave of the voters of their district.
This work is done by the incumbent and will generally be looked on favorably during the next election. Much of this work is done by staff members.
What is an incumbent?
Common issues handled by constituency work are tracking down deadbeat dads, figuring out how constituents can get the proper medical benefits under Medicaid, contacting federal agencies about military matters.
One state legislature in the Oklahoma Senate was asked to address overgrown grass in the median of a state road. After contacting the agency that provides this service, the work was not done so the legislator took his own lawn mower and mowed it himself.
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Oversight
One of the main responsibilities of legislatures is oversight of the executive branch and bureaucracy to make sure they are doing their job.
The main thing is they have the power to investigator if the executive branch is spending money where the laws says it should be sent.
At the state level, it can be harder to audit the executive since in many instances, there is no political advantage and states with term limits does not allow legislative members to build an expertise in areas that need oversight. They have to rely on the testimony of the executive to determine the good and the bad.
When the legislative branch investigates an executive program, it beneficiaries and lobbyists will question the motives of the legislature which in many instances can have political fall out so may not be worth it.
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Organization and Operation of Legislatures
This country is a representative democracy.
What does that mean?
The demographic makeup of state legislature has changed over the years. While it is still made up mostly of mostly white males, There are over 4 times as many blacks and 6 times as many women serving in state legislatures as there was in 1970.
Bicameralism
All state legislatures except Nebraska are setup as bicameral.
What does this mean?
The House is usually more of the people’s chamber. They serve shorter terms, have more members, and represent less people.
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Legislative Leadership
At the beginning of a legislative term, the chamber chooses their leadership. The House has a Speaker and a majority leader and minority leader.
Not surprisingly, most states are run by either the democratic or republican party. Out of 7000 state legislators, only 25 or so are independents.
Speaker presides over daily sessions, refers bills to the appropriate committee, appoint committee chairs, set committee jurisdictions, and offer help to rank and file member.
The power of chamber leadership varies by state.
The majority party in a state controls the agenda, or priorities, of the chambers.
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Committees
Committees are where most of the legislative work happens.
The chairs set the agenda for the committees so they have a lot of power because the only bills that get to the chamber floor for a vote have to get through a committee first.
Most legislators try to serve on the committees that will give them the most influence.
Most of the time, it will revolve around what?
Rank -and-File Members
These are the member that are not part of the chamber leadership. They can be considered delegates or trustees.
What is a delegate? What is a trustee?
Most members never hear from 1 person regarding over 90% of the bills they consider
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Apportionment
Every ten years in this country, the US census determines how many US legislators each state will have. It is up to the State legislatures to draw the districts. This is called redistricting.
Districts need to be very equal in population. The majority parties of the state legislatures will maximize the number of US Representatives of their party.
What is this called?
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Looks at the district near Austin, Texas. This area is 60% Democrat but the Republican State legislature cut up a this area into 6 districts, with only one being Democratic.
In Florida, in 2010 voters approved a constitutional amendment that mandated rules for redistricting forbidding drawing lines to favor an incumbent or political party. After he census, the Republican state legislature redrew lines that the Florida Supreme Court ruled was unconstitutional.
State Legislators
Pew research showed a very small portion of the population ever runs for office. Office seeker are disproportionately white, male, and college educated. Men are 3 times more likely to run for office than women. Also some states have full time legislatures and others have part time legislatures. It is easier to be a career politicians in states with full time legislatures.
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Professional Background
People associated with big business seems to pursue office regularly. Buddy Dyer kept his law practice while a member of the state legislature and was accused of proposing bills that directly benefited his industrial clients.
His response was “probably not a bill that goes through the Legislature” did not affect one of his clients.
A journalist of the Texas Tribune said “ At the Capitol, lawmakers rarely recuse themselves from legislation that has an impact on their livelihoods for one simple reason: They do not have to”
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Demographic Diversity
In the 1960’s and 1970’s, women made up 4% of state legislatures. By the 1990’s it got up to 18%. As of 2006, it got up to 24%. In 2009 New Hampshire Senate was the first state legislature ever to have a majority women.
A problem is research has show that men were 60 % more likely to feel they were very qualified to run for office, while women were twice as likely to think the were not at all qualified.
An issue with low numbers of women in politics is woman legislators tend to bring up issues and concerns that would not be raised in an all male legislature.
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Minorities have similar issues. Less than 10% of all legislators are black, which is below the percentage of population. There is even a bigger gap for latinos who make up 14 % of the population but only 4% of state legislators.
Black legislators tend to propose bills that affect medicaid, student aid, school lunch programs, community development, welfare and environmental protection.
A study done showed the 55%-82% of the bills proposed by black legislators were of particular interest to blacks. In contrast, white legislature almost never proposed such legislation.
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Professional versus Citizen Legislators.
What does that mean?
Some states employ full time legislators, that get paid large salaries and have large staffs. There are some part time legislatures that meet only once every other year.
Legislators and Public Opinion
30 – 40 years ago, state legislatures were sexist, racist, secretive, boss ruled, malproportioned and uninformed. For example Alabama was ranked 50th in independence, 50th in accountability, and 48th in overall performance. Interestly enough, that institution was rated favorability by 65% of the public. As of the 1990’s the institutional racism, sexism, and misappropriation was mostly removed. It was a professional organization with a state of the art facility, and it rated a 24% approval rating.
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State legislatures are much more transparent institutions then they used to be. You can review voting records of your representative online, you can watch the chamber on cable new channels,etc. Their membership have moved closer to the demographic makeup of society, and they are more competent, ethical, and honest then in the past. State legislatures have for the most part got a lot better at their jobs yet get more unpopular all the time.
Ever since Watergate, the press has taken an adversarial relationship with the government and that could be a large factor. There is little advertise revenue in reporting the many good things done by state legislatures, but there is in reporting the few bad things that happen.
In 2014 there are 15 states with term limits on state legislators, ranging from 6 years to 12 years.
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POS 2112 State and Local Government
Gerrymandering Worksheet
Prof. Douglas W. Baker
This assignment will ask you to research how gerrymandering affects the outcome of Congressional elections. Answer each question as thoroughly as you can and make sure you meet the word count. Everything you write needs to be in your own words.
1. What is gerrymandering (100+ words)?
2. Who is responsible for it (50+ words)?
3. What is the reelection rate for a member of Congress?
4. What is the current approval rating of Congress?
5. In your opinion, what could be the cause be in the disparity between the answers for questions 3 and 4 (200+ words)?
6. What did the state of California do to address gerrymandering (250 + words)?
7. Pick 3 states and research if there is a quantitative connection between the political affiliation of its state legislators and its members of Congress.
State #1 (150+ words) :
State #2 (150+ words):
State #3 (150+ words):
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