Lecture and Materials Week 8: State Legislatures October 5, 2017 State Politics Lecture and Materials Week 8: State Legislatures October 5, 2017

Class Agenda Discussion of Week 8 Discussant News Articles Discussion of News Articles from Blackboard Discussion of Jon Oliver segment Discussion of Paper on Term Limits Discussion of Schneier Chapters Discussion of Ingle Chapters

Jon Oliver Segment What are some of the main points? Does it bother you the number of unopposed seats? What about barely opposed seats?

State Legislatures All state legislatures but one are made of two houses Exception is the unicamerial Nebraska Legislature, which is also unique because it is “officially” non-partisan They follow a similar model to the US Congress, except districts must be equal in size

Who leads these bodies All of the State Houses are led by the Speaker Generally chosen by the majority caucus Texas House as a whole votes for Speaker Generally, the leadership positions pay slightly higher However, Senates are different Some give the Lt. Gov. (who may be elected independently) powers over the Senate like appointing committees, controlling calender, naming committee chairs New York and Washington Senates are led by a coalition

Size matters Legislative bodies range in size State Senates From 20 (Alaska) to 67 (Minnesota) State Houses Some states call State Assembly and others State House of Delegates From 40 (Alaska) to 400 (New Hampshire)

Nesting of Districts Some lower chamber seats are nested within the upper chamber seats Some like New Jersey, Washington, and Arizona elect one Senator and two House members in same district Others like Minnesota, Alaska, Nevada, Wisconsin, and Oregon have individual seats within the Senate seat South Dakota is a hybrid due to the Voting Rights Act

Multi-Member Districts Some states use multi-member seats In West Virginia and Maryland, they can be of different sizes which can lead to partisan mischief How? New Hampshire even has a hybrid for its large House of multi- member, single member and then additional seats to balance population

Methods for Filling Vacancies This has become interesting Because since half use immediately called special elections, we can test party strength vis a vis previous elections for trends But in many states, the party in power of the seat (or sometimes the governor) appoints the replacement for the rest of the term (or up to the next election) Members can thus time vacancies outside of regular elections Some governors use vacancies to swing control of bodies

Who controls State Legislatures now? Republicans! They control as many chambers as they have since the 1920s Some due to redistricting control in 2011-12 Better national coordinantion by GOP for state legislative races Natural gerrymandering against Dems, plus Dem decline in non- metro areas The South being so racially polarized

What are things that makes the Legislature more/less powerful? Several things Full time/part time Veto override threshold Ability to get special sessions Constitutional authority Particularly with budgets But some legislatures cede authority Do they confirm gubernorial appointments? In Virginia, they appoint judges Limits or grants to the governor Other statewide offices

Committees In most states, all committee chairs are of the majority party Some places may share the chairs Others may let the minority have a few rather meaningless chairs Committee chairs and ranking members often get a little more pay There are often interim committees that are named when the legislature is out of session Chairs usually chosen by loyalty to the leadership and seniority

Types of People in Legislatures Most legislatures are part time So members generally have other jobs the rest of the year Occupation                Total Business                    30%      (Owner—13%)      (Other—11%)      (Real Estate—3%)      (Insurance—2%) Attorney                     14% Legislator                   12% Retired                        8% Consultant                   8% Educator                     6% Agriculture                   5%

More on Legislators They are disproportionately Older White Male Educated Non-veterans Only two WWII veterans left in Legislatures

Legislative Term Limits Most were passed by the initiative and referendum process They vary in length from six years (Michigan House) to 12 years (a lot of places) Some let members sit out a term and run again Leads to members often running for local offices, higher offices, or the other chamber Many others try their hands at lobbying

Term Limits It does lead to a great deal more of turnover in bodies But the real winners have been the lobbyists In Florida, it has led to the absurd Members are limited to eight years They elect their leadership classes when they are first elected for when they get to their final terms