The United States Congress and nuclear war powers: explaining legislative nonfeasance

“Hearing from All Sides” How Legislative Testimony Influences State Level Policy-Makers in the United States

Background This paper investigates whether state legislators find testimony influential, to what extent testimony influences policy-makers’ decisions, and defines the features of testimony important in affecting policy-makers’ decisions.   Methods We used a mixed method approach to analyze responses from 862 state-level legislators in the United States (U.S.). Data were collected via a phone su...

Legislative Effectiveness in the United States Senate

Drawing on data from 1973-2014 (93rd-113th Congresses), we develop a new method for measuring the legislative effectiveness of members of the United States Senate that builds upon Volden and Wiseman’s analysis of legislative effectiveness in the U.S. House. We compare the construction and analysis of our Senate Legislative Effectiveness Scores (LES) to those of the U. S. House over the same 40-...

LEGISLATIVE REPORT 106TH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION -- INTERIM United States Catholic Conference Office of Government Liaison

Do Parties Matter? Explaining Legislative Productivity in the American States

“hearing from all sides” how legislative testimony influences state level policy-makers in the united states

background this paper investigates whether state legislators find testimony influential, to what extent testimony influences policy-makers’ decisions, and defines the features of testimony important in affecting policy-makers’ decisions.   methods we used a mixed method approach to analyze responses from 862 state-level legislators in the united states (u.s.). data were collected via a phone su...