Bicameral Distinctiveness in American State Legislatures. Issue 3 (28th September 2022)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Makse, Todd
• Is Part Of: State politics & policy quarterly. Volume 22:Issue 3(2022)
• Page Start: 270
• Page End: 288
• Publication Date: 2022-09-28
• Subjects: bicameralism -- state legislatures -- representation -- policy influence; State governments -- United States -- Periodicals; Political planning -- United States -- States -- Periodicals; Gouvernements d'États fédérés -- États-Unis -- Périodiques; Politique publique -- États-Unis -- États -- Périodiques; 320.97305
• DOI: 10.1017/spq.2022.3
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1532-4400

Abstract

Abstract: Many important traits of state legislatures vary across chambers within a state. Yet according to existing typologies in the comparative study of bicameralism, the 49 bicameral American state legislatures would be deemed quite homogeneous. To resolve this disjuncture, I identify a novel dimension of bicameralism that distinguishes among state legislatures by capturing the extent to which the two chambers serve as meaningfully different venues for influence. Based on this framework, I develop an index of bicameral "distinctiveness" rooted in three traits that speak to policy influence across chambers: the ratio of seats, bipartisan representation, and constituency dissimilarity. This measure reveals sizable variation across states and a conspicuous geographic pattern, with considerably greater bicameral distinctiveness in the Eastern United States. In turn, I assess the construct validity of this measure, showing how patterns of second chamber bill amendment vary systematically with the level of bicameral distinctiveness.