Legislating without experience : case studies in state legislative term limits / edited by Rick Farmer ... [and others].

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Farmer, Rick, 1958-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Legislation--United States--States.

Legislation.

Term limits (Public office)--United States--States.

Term limits (Public office).

Legislators--Term of office--United States--States.

Legislators.

Legislative power--United States--States.

Legislative power.

Legislative bodies--United States--States.

Legislative bodies.

Legislators--Term of office.

United States.

Physical Description:

xii, 245 pages : illustrations ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Lanham : Lexington Books, [2007]

Summary:

Legislative term limits are reshaping the political landscape in numerous states; however, few of the effects are consistent across all states. Everything from the political environment to the level of legislative professionalism within a state influences the trends often attributed to term limits. To cut through these many trends and isolate the ones most likely created by term limits, this volume develops comparisons of states with term limits to similar states without term limits. The comparisons are organized by levels of legislative professionalism.

The richness of the case study approach of Legislating Without Experience allows the contributors to offer valuable insights into the legislative process in each of the specific states. It also illuminates the individual idiosyncrasies that enhance or dilute the effects of term limits in a given state. Rarely does a case study book with multiple contributors offer apples-to-apples data comparisons. This project engages nationally recognized scholars to collect and analyze comparable data from each state.

The loss of major power brokers and their institutional memories makes the legislature a more chaotic place. Legislating Without Experience argues that on the whole, the legislature as an institution has been weakened by term limits. However, these effects vary from state to state based on the specifics of the limit and the degree of legislative professionalism. Importantly, legislative actors are adapting to the limits and making the best of a difficult situation. This book will be an excellent reference for students and scholars of state politics, the legislative process, and term limits.

Contents:

Introduction : accelerating change with term limits / Rick Farmer and John C. Green

Institutional imbalance : the effect of six year limits in California / Bruce Cain, Thad Kousser, Karl T. Kurtz

Legislative power in the Buckeye State : the revenge of term limits / Rick Farmer, Thomas H. Little

Truncated careers in professionalized state legislatures / Christopher Z. Mooney

The effects of legislative term limits in Arizona : more churning, more chaos, and a diminished institutional role for legislators / David R. Berman

Colorado legislative term limits : the worst of both worlds / John A. Straayer

Out with the old heads and in with the young Turks : the effects of term limits in semi-professionalized state legislatures / Christopher Z. Mooney, Jason Wood, and Gerald C. Wright

Term limits in the Arkansas General Assembly : a citizen legislature responds / Art English, Brian Weberg

Institutional change and legislative term limits in Maine / Richard J. Powell, Rich Jones

It's all about the turnover : term limits in citizen legislatures / Michael Smith

Living with term limits / Alan Rosenthal.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 225-233) and index.

ISBN:

9780739111444

0739111442

9780739111451

0739111450

OCLC:

163812870