Hostname: page-component-857557d7f7-nbs69 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-11-23T20:53:41.292Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

A Squire Index Update: Stability and Change in Legislative Professionalization, 1979–2021

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2023

Peverill Squire Open the ORCID record for Peverill Squire [Opens in a new window]
Peverill Squire*
Affiliation:
Truman School of Government and Public Affairs, University of Missouri, Columbia, MO, USA
*
Email: SquireP@missouri.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The Squire Index measuring the professionalization levels of American state legislatures was created three decades ago. In this note, I explain how the 2021 update was compiled. I then document the index’s stability over the years for which it has been measured, present alternative measures to explore a problematic aspect of the index, and finally examine how each of the index’s three components has moved relative to Congress between 1979 and 2021.

Keywords

legislative professionalismlegislative behaviorfederal/statecomparative legislaturesSquire Index

Information

Type
Short Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 24 , Issue 1 , March 2024 , pp. 110 - 119
Copyright
© The Author(s), 2023. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the State Politics and Policy Section of the American Political Science Association

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

Armaly, Miles T. 2020. “From Statehouse to Courthouse: Legislative Professionalism and High Court Auditing Behavior.” Social Science Quarterly 101 (1): 362–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bowen, Daniel C., and Greene, Zachary. 2014. “Should We Measure Professionalism with an Index? A Note on Theory and Practice in State Legislative Professionalism Research.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 14 (3): 277–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bromley-Trujillo, Rebecca, and Karch, Andrew. 2021. “Salience, Scientific Uncertainty, and the Agenda-Setting Power of Science.” Policy Studies Journal 49 (4): 992–1018.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, Adam R., and Garlick, Alex. 2023. “Bicameralism Hinges on Legislative Professionalism.” Legislative Studies Quarterly. doi: 10.1111/lsq.12422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Emrich, Colin. 2022. “The Politics of Bicameral Agreement: Why and When Do State Lawmakers Go to Conference?” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 22 (3): 289–319.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcia, Matthew Mendez, and Sadhwani, Sara. 2023. “¿Quién Importa? State Legislators and Their Responsiveness to Undocumented Immigrants.” Political Research Quarterly 76 (3): 1357–70. doi: 10.1177/10659129221137825.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Goodman, Christopher B., and Hatch, Megan E.. 2023. “State Preemption and Affordable Housing Policy.” Urban Studies 60 (6), 1048–65. doi: 10.1177/00420980221135410.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hendrick, Rebecca, and Hu, Xiaoyan. 2020. “Beyond Truth and Integrity in State Budgeting: Why State Governments Use Budget Balancing Maneuvers (or Gimmicks)?” Public Budgeting & Finance 40 (4): 104–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jansa, Joshua M., Hansen, Eric R., and Gray, Virginia H.. 2019. “Copy and Paste Lawmaking: Legislative Professionalism and Policy Reinvention in the States.” American Politics Research 47 (4): 739–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kroeger, Mary A. 2022. “Bureaucrats as Lawmakers.” Legislative Studies Quarter 47 (1): 257–89.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Landgrave, Michelangelo, and Weller, Nicholas. 2020. “Do more Professionalized Legislatures Discriminate Less? The Role of Staffers in Constituency Service.” American Politics Research 48 (5): 571–78.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Makse, Todd. 2022. “Bicameral Distinctiveness in American State Legislatures.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 22 (3): 270–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McCrain, Joshua, and O’Connell, Stephen D.. 2023. “Experience, Institutions, and Candidate Emergence: The Political Career Returns to State Legislative Service.” Political Research and Methods 11 (4): 763–84. doi: 10.1017/psrm.2022.16.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nattinger, Matthew C., and Kaskie, Brian. 2017. “Determinants of the Rigor of State Protection Policies for Persons with Dementia in Assisted Living.” Journal of Aging & Social Policy 29 (2): 123–42.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Payson, Julia, Casas, Andreu, Nagler, Jonathan, Bonneau, Richard, and Tucker, Joshua A.. 2022. “Using Social Media Data to Reveal Patterns of Policy Engagement in State Legislatures.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 22 (4): 371–95.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ricknell, Emma. 2023. “Dynamic Rare Decisions: Gubernatorial Vetoes and the Death Penalty, 1999–2018.” Journal of Legislative Studies 29 (1): 189–211. doi:10.1080/13572334.2021.1975422.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Squire, Peverill. 1992. “Legislative Professionalization and Membership Diversity in State Legislatures.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 17 (1): 69–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Squire, Peverill. 2000. “Uncontested Seats in State Legislative Elections.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 25 (1): 131–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Squire, Peverill. 2007. “Measuring Legislative Professionalism: The Squire Index Revisited.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 7 (2): 211–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Squire, Peverill. 2012. The Evolution of American Legislatures: Colonies, Territories and States, 1619–2009. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Squire, Peverill. 2017. “A Squire Index Update.” State Politics & Policy Quarterly 17 (4): 361–71.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Squire, Peverill. 2023. “Replication Data for: A Squire Index Update: Stability and Change in Legislative Professionalization, 1979–2021,” https://doi.org/10.15139/S3/2VORBN, UNC Dataverse, V1, UNF:6:OED84KUmTSelwEpw4WsXXA== [fileUNF].CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Squire, Peverill, and Moncrief, Gary F.. 2020. State Legislatures Today: Politics under the Domes, 3rd ed. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.Google Scholar
Swift, Clint S., and Vander Molen, Kathryn. 2021. “Marginalization and Mobilization: The Roots of Female Legislators’ Collaborative Advantage in the States.” State Politics and Policy Quarterly 21 (4): 355–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Williamson, Ryan D., Morris, John C., and Fisk, Jonathan M.. 2021. “Institutional Variation, Professionalization, and State Implementation Choices: An Examination of Investment in Water Quality across the 50 States.” American Review of Public Administration 51 (6): 436–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: Link

Squire Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.15139/S3/2VORBN
Link