Product Description: The Context of Legislating provides a much-needed examination of how the rules, resources, and political conditions within and surrounding different institutions raise or lower the costs of legislating. Using data tracking over 1,100 legislators, 230 committees and 12,000 bills introduced in ten state lower chambers, Shannon Jenkins examines how political conditions and institutional rules and resources shape the arc of the legislative process by raising the costs of some types of legislative activity and lowering the costs of others...read more

Product Description: Multidimensional Democracy examines political representation from the supply (legislator) and demand (constituent) perspectives. Focusing on four dimensions - policy, service, allocation, and descriptive representation - it documents systematic variation in what people want from legislators and what legislators choose to emphasize while in office...read more

Product Description: Over the past several decades, the number of women elected to higher office in the United States has grown substantially. However, when the electoral gains of women are considered on a state-by-state basis, there are observable variations in the rate by state at which women are elected to state legislative office...read more

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.

Product Description: Seeks to explain the causes of ambiguously worded state legislation. The level of detail in a given law can have dramatic consequences for how that law is interpreted and applied. In The Devil Is in the Details, Rachel VanSickle-Ward focuses on the dynamics of social policy construction in the United States in order to better understand why the wording of legislation can range from the specific to the ambiguous...read more

(view table of contents)

Product Description: An enduring question for most nations has been how to best represent their citizens and their needs. This is a complex issue as there is no universally accepted definition of good representation. Representation and Institutional Design addresses the issues of institutions and representation by examining how variation in institutional design can affect many aspects of how legislators represent their constituents...read more

Product Description: When it comes to legislative elections, entrenched incumbents typically face little competition, and excessive campaign spending often corrupts the democratic process. At the state level, a wide range of fixes have been introduced to remedy these problems - but do they actually make a difference? William Salka's comprehensive analysis of election dynamics in 49 states provides a thoughtful look at what legislatures should, and should not, do in pursuit of effective electoral reform...read more

Product Description: So often we wait for the climate and conditions in life to be perfect before we feel safe enough to step forward, claim our territory, and be our authentic selves. What we don’t realize is that in order to create the ideal climate we are waiting for, we must be authentic first...read more

Product Description: Discover how the law-making body of state government works. Learn about state legislators and their important role in our states. Find out how laws are made, who can run for legislator, and the role citizens play in selecting our state government leaders.

'This book lists the party affiliation of every state legislator from 1796 through the elections of 2006. Information on each state includes a summary of how its electoral process developed, including the origins and stipulations of each state's constitution, the terms and size of the legislature, and other details pertaining to the history of the state's legislative branch'--Provided by publisher.

Describes the powers and responsibilities, structure and process, people who serve, and politics of the legislative branch of state government.

Introduces the legislative branch of state government, how legislators are elected, and how a bill becomes law.

(view table of contents)

(view table of contents)

Product Description: Book by Loftus, Tom

(view table of contents)