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POLS 312 COURSE SYLLABUS
LEGISLATIVE BEHAVIOR
TTh 10:40-11:55 Room: B102b

Spring 2006

Professor Moncrief Office: 126B PAAW 426-3686 gmoncri@boisestate.edu

Office hours: MWF 2-3pm; TuTh 9:30-10:30am Website: http://polisci.boisestate.edu/gmoncrief/

 COURSE DESCRIPTION:

These are interesting times for students of American legislatures. The division of seats between Republicans and Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives is one of the narrowest in history. In state legislatures changes are occurring at a rapid pace due to the devolution of power to the states, the institutional consequences of term limits, the increasing use of the initiative and referendum process, and the application of new technologies. In this course we explore the nature of American legislatures and how they change and adapt to continuously changing circumstances.

LEARNING OBJECTIVES:

The course is designed to give students a sound introductory understanding of the role and evolution of legislative institutions in the U.S. The course is intended for upper-division political science majors, and assumes some prior knowledge of the American political system. Throughout the course, primary emphasis will be given to:

• The structures and functions of U.S. legislatures in comparison to those of other countries
• The changing environment of state legislatures
• The differences in how congressional actors behave in Washington and in their home districts
• The development and consequences of careerism and professionalization of American legislatures
• The procedures involved in making statutory law
• How the American electoral, judicial and legislative systems define our view of the concept of representation. This includes the manner in which the judicial system has interpreted reapportionment/redistricting law.
• The internal and external influences on legislative decision-making, including the role of interest groups, legislative leadership, legislative staff, public opinion, and the executive branch.
• The recruitment, nomination and election of legislative candidates
• The role of money in congressional and state legislative campaigns

READINGS:

The required reading for this courses consists of two textbooks and occasional additional readings from articles, book chapters, and websites. The primary texts are Davidson and Oleszek, Congress and Its Members, 6^th ed. (1998) and Alan Rosenthal, The Decline of Representative Democracy (1998).

EVALUATION CRITERIA:

Grades will be determined on the basis of two exams and one required outside assignment. Dates and relative weight of each are as follows:

Exams are a combination of essays, short answers, and multiple choice questions. Bluebooks are encouraged, but not required.

The Bill Tracking Project is designed to help students learn how to use the internet as a source of information about legislation, and to give students the opportunity to apply text materials on "how a bill gets passed" to real-life examples. Choose 2 bills introduced into the Idaho Legislature during the 2000 session and follow these 2 bills during the session. Your report must contain a description of the bills and their ‘progress’ through the steps of the legislative process. As best as you can, you should also identify the role of outside agents such as interest groups, the governor’s office on the bills. You must discuss how the bills’ legislative history illustrates or contradicts the class readings and discussion on the legislative process. A written report (5-7 pages, double-spaced, 10-12 point font) is due on Friday, April 14 by 4 p.m. in my office. It will be graded for both content and style (i.e. correct spelling, grammar and punctuation). You are encouraged to choose bills early in the session and to keep a history of the bills’ progress on a daily or weekly basis. The 2 bills cannot be on the same subject. A description of the bills and their progress in the legislative process can be found on the excellent web-site provided by the Idaho Legislature at www.state.id.us/legislat/legislat.html.

Other useful web-sites:

www.csg.org this is the homepage for the Council of State Governments, and includes information about state legislatures. A particularly useful feature is the daily review of newspaper articles on state politics, including state legislatures, from around the country.

www.ncsl.org the homepage for the National Conference of State Legislatures. Includes issue discussions and links to all state legislative web-sites.

http://thomas.loc.gov Maintained by the Library of Congress, this is a very comprehensive web-site for finding out information about the U.S. Congress and the current status of congressional legislation.

www.congresslink.org contains basic information about congress in an easily readable format

www.congress.org also a fairly simple but good source of information about congress

CLASS SCHEDULE AND READING ASSIGNMENTS