Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-pftt2 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-06-02T15:35:47.127Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Committee Specialization in U.S. State Legislatures during the 20th Century: Do Legislatures Tap the Talents of Their Members?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 January 2021

Keith E. Hamm ,
Ronald D. Hedlund  and
Stephanie Shirley Post
Keith E. Hamm*
Affiliation:
Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
Ronald D. Hedlund
Affiliation:
Northeastern University, Boston, MA, USA
Stephanie Shirley Post
Affiliation:
Rice University, Houston, TX, USA
*
Keith E. Hamm, Rice University, Department of Political Science, MS24, P.O. Box 1892, Houston, TX 77251-1892 Email: hamm@rice.edu
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The authors use an informational-theoretical perspective to examine the appointment of legislative committees, using new measures of knowledge and expertise as well as a unique database. While competing theories (distributive and partisan) do not deny that legislative committees are a source of vital knowledge and expertise necessary for legislative policy making, information theory places the wisdom and expertise needs of collective decision making—that is, specialization—on very complex topics by legislative generalists as the raison d'être for a committee system. Thus, the authors investigate one of the fundamental arguments of information theory—that committees are formed to meet the basic knowledge and expertise needs of a legislative body. The findings from U.S. state legislative data indicate that significant member differences regarding prior knowledge and expertise exist by committee jurisdiction, state, and session, reinforcing the applicability of information theory while also suggesting the impact of setting and organizational factors. The authors also explore implications of these findings.

Keywords

state legislative committeescongressional theoriescommittee memberslegislator occupationlegislator experience
Type
Research Article
Information
State Politics & Policy Quarterly , Volume 11 , Issue 3 , September 2011 , pp. 299 - 324
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s) 2011

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.)

References

Aldrich, John H., and Coleman Battista, James S.. 2002. “Conditional Party Government in the States.” American Journal of Political Science 46:164–72.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Basehart, Hubert Harry. 1980. “The Effect of Membership Stability on Continuity and Experience in U.S. State Legislative Committees.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 5:55–68.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Battista, James S. Coleman. 2004. “Re-examining Legislative Committee Representativeness in the States.” State Politics & Policy Quarterly 4:161–80.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Battista, James S. Coleman. 2006. “Jurisdiction, Institutional Structure, and Committee Representativeness.” Political Research Quarterly 59:47–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, Robert D., Davis, Jennifer M., Overby, L. Marvin, Smith, Charles E. Jr., and Holian, David R.. 1997. “The Dynamics of Committee Outliers: Evidence from the House of Representatives, 1951–1990.” Journal of Legislative Studies 3:70–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Clark, Wesley Jr., and Lippitt, David W.. 1978. “Committee Assignment Preferences in a State Legislature: The Case of the New York Assembly.” Presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary W., and McCubbins, Mathew D.. 1993. Legislative Leviathan: Party Government in the House. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Cox, Gary W., and McCubbins, Mathew D.. 2005. Setting the Agenda: Responsible Party Government in the U.S. House of Representatives. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Crawley, Gary L. 1985. “Membership Stability on State Legislative Committees: The Case of Indiana, 1971–1985.” Presented at the annual meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago.Google Scholar
Damgaard, Erik. 1980. “The Dilemma of Rational Legislative Action: Some Danish Evidence.” In Politics as Rational Action, eds. Lewin, Lief and Vendung, Evert. Dordrecht, Netherlands: Reidel, 217–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fenno, Richard F. 1973. Congressmen in Committees. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Fiorina, Morris P. 1977. Congress: Keystone of the Washington Establishment. New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Francis, Wayne L. 1989. The Legislative Committee Game: A Comparative Analysis of Fifty States. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.Google Scholar
Gilligan, Thomas W., and Krehbiel, Keith. 1987. “Collective Decision-Making and Standing Committees: An Informational Rationale for Restrictive Amendment Procedures.” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 3:287–335.Google Scholar
Gilligan, Thomas W., and Krehbiel, Keith. 1990. “Organization of Informative Committees by a Rational Legislature.” American Journal of Political Science 34:531–64.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gilligan, Thomas W., and Krehbiel, Keith. 1997. “Specialization Decisions within Committee.” Journal of Law, Economics, and Organization 13:366–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hall, Richard L., and Grofman, Bernard. 1990. “The Committee Assignment Process and the Conditional Nature of Committee Bias.” American Political Science Review 84:1149–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hamm, Keith E. 1986. “The Role of ‘Subgovernments’ in U.S. State Policy Making: An Exploratory Analysis.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 11:321–51.Google Scholar
Hamm, Keith E., and Hedlund, Ronald D.. 1994. “Committees in State Legislatures.” In The Encyclopedia of the American Legislative System, ed. Silbey, Joel H.. New York: Scribner, 669–699.Google Scholar
Haynes, George H. 1900a. “Representation in the Legislatures of the North Atlantic States.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 15 (March): 64–91.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, George H. 1900b. “Representation in the Legislatures of the North Central States.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 15 (May): 93–113.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Haynes, George H. 1900c. “Representation in State Legislatures III: The Southern States.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 16 (July): 93–119.Google Scholar
Haynes, George H. 1900d. “Representation in State Legislatures IV: The Western States.” Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 16 (September): 67–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hyneman, Charles S. 1940. “Who Makes Our Laws?” Political Science Quarterly 55:556–81.Google Scholar
Jewell, Malcolm. 1962. The State Legislature: Politics and Practice. 4th ed. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Jewell, Malcolm E., and Miller, Penny M.. 1988. The Kentucky Legislature: Two Decades of Change. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky.Google Scholar
Jewell, Malcolm E., and Patterson, Samuel C.. 1986. The Legislative Process: Congress and the States. New York: Random House.Google Scholar
Kim, Chong Lim, and Patterson, Samuel C.. 1988. “Parliamentary Elite Integration in Six Nations.” Comparative Politics 20:379–99.Google Scholar
Kousser, Thad. 2005. Term Limits and the Dismantling of State Legislative Professionalism. Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Krehbiel, Keith. 1990. “Are Congressional Committees Composed of Preference Outliers?” American Political Science Review 84:149–63.Google Scholar
Krehbiel, Keith. 1991. Information and Legislative Organization. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lewis, Henry W. 1952. Legislative Committees in North Carolina. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Institute of Government.Google Scholar
Loewenberg, Gerhard, and Patterson, Samuel C.. 1979. Comparing Legislatures. Boston: Little, Brown.Google Scholar
Maltzman, Forrest. 1995. “Meeting Competing Demands: Committee Performance in the Postreform House.” American Journal of Political Science 39:653–82.Google Scholar
Maltzman, Forrest. 1998. Competing Principals: Committees, Parties and the Organization of Congress. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.Google Scholar
Overby, L. Marvin, and Kazee, Thomas A.. 2000. “Outlying Committees in the Statehouse: An Examination of the Prevalence of Committee Outliers in State Legislatures.” The Journal of Politics 62:701–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Overby, L. Marvin, Kazee, Thomas A., and Prince, David W.. 2004. “Committee Outliers in State Legislatures.” Legislative Studies Quarterly 29:81–107.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Palmer, Kenneth T. 1964. “The Legislative Committee System in Pennsylvania.” PhD diss., Pennsylvania State University.Google Scholar
Price, Charles M., and Bell, Charles G.. 1970. “Socializing California Freshmen Assemblymen: The Role of Individuals and Sub-Groups.” Western Political Quarterly 23:166–79.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prince, David W., and Marvin Overby, L.. 2005. “Legislative Organization Theory and Committee Preferences Outliers in State Senates.” State Politics & Policy Quarterly 5:68–87.Google Scholar
Reinsch, Paul S. 1907. American Legislatures and Legislative Methods. New York: Century Co.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, Alan. 1974. Legislative Performance in the States. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Rosenthal, Alan. 1981. Legislative Life: People, Processes and Performances in the States. New York: Harper & Row.Google Scholar
Shepsle, Kenneth A. 1978. The Giant Jigsaw Puzzle: Democratic Committee Assignments in the Modern House. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Squire, Peverill, and Hamm, Keith E.. 2005. 101 Chambers: Congress, State Legislatures, and the Future of Legislative Studies. Columbus: Ohio State University Press.Google Scholar
Stanley, Harold D. 1975. Senate vs. Governor, Alabama 1971: Referents for Opposition in a One-Party Legislature. Tuscaloosa: University of Alabama Press.Google Scholar
Weingast, Barry, and Marshall, William. 1988. “The Industrial Organization of Congress or, Why Legislatures, Like Firms, Are Not Organized as Markets.” Journal of Political Economy 96:132–63.Google Scholar
Winslow, Clinton I. 1931. State Legislative Committees: A Study in Procedure. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.Google Scholar
Zeller, Belle. 1954. American State Legislatures. New York: Crowell-Collier.Google Scholar