Objectives for Week Four

1
Objectives for Week Four

• State Government Basics
• History of State Governmental Institutions and
  Policy-making
• Roles of Governors and Legislators
• Department of Social and Human Services Case Study

2
State Legislatures Prior to 1960s

• Malapportionment and Gerrymandering
• Structure of institutions shapes policy-making
  activity
• Favortism, patronage, and poor capacity to act
• Baker v. Carr (369 U.S. 186) 1962
• Reynolds v. Sims (377 U.S. 533) 1964

3
Professionalization of State Legislatures After
1960s

• Improving the formal rules governing legislative
  operation and decision-making
• Reducing favortism and malapportionment
• Strengthening capacity of members to perform
  policy-making duties
• Time
• Staff
• Committees
• Rise of career-oriented legislators

4
Length of Legislative Sessions in Michigan, 1835
to 1980
5
Legislative Productivity in Michigan, 1959 and
1969
6
Committee System as Backbone of State Legislature

• Role of Committees in Legislature
• Why Join Certain Committees?
• Committees and Professionalism

7
Number of Committees in Michigan, 1901-2000
8
Substantive Shift in Michigan Legislature, 1969
1998
9
Why Does Heightened LegislativeProfessionalizatio
n Matter?
10
What Factors Shape a Legislators Voting Behavior?
11
The Role of Governors

• Historical Mistrust of Governors
• Resurgence of Governors in 1970s
• Gubernatorial Powers
• Formal powers
• Informal powers
• Governors Professional Today
• Constraints on Gubernatorial Powers

12
Executive Branch Reorganization

• Trend in 1970s to Reorganize Executive Branch
  Agencies
• Consolidation of Agencies
• Expansion of Executive Discretion and Power
• Factors Driving Reorganization Initiatives

13
Initial WA-DSHS Questions

• Why is political conflict bad for an agency, but
  good for a legislature?
• What are the advantages disadvantages of being
  a large state agency?
• How can you get legislators to feel ownership
  over a program that otherwise seems distant?
• What was Gibbs strategy to arriving at a budget
  recommendation for the Governor?

14
Group WA-DSHS Questions

• How would you structure the hearings?
• How would you work to retain what is most
  important to DSHS and its clients?
• What factors affect the ease with which you can
  reduce the DSHS budget?
• How would you explain your vote if you were a
• Rural legislator in a depressed farming area
• Urban legislator in a mixed-income Seattle
  district

15
Readings for Next Week

• Chapters One through Three, The Price of
  Federalism, Paul Peterson
• Chapter One, When Federalism Works, Paul
  Peterson, Barry Rabe, and Kenneth Wong
• Chapter One, American Federalism Competition
  Among Governments, Thomas Dye
• Two Page Memo on Final Paper Topic due in Week
  Six
• Brief background on the topic you have selected
• Specify the questions you are asking
• Identify how intergovernmental relationships are
  relevant
• Outline how you anticipate moving forward with
  your work