State Legislatures in the United States

States vary in their approach to putting their legislatures online. Some have one page for the legislature as a whole, some have separate pages for the state senate and the state house of representatives or assembly, and some are unicameral.

Generally, legislative pages give visitors legislative calendars, brief biographies of legislators and data on their districts, information on bills being considered, summaries of committee discussion, and searchable access to databases of bills and existing laws. Several feature current awareness services such as news feeds and e-mail notification of developments.

Imbedded within legislative pages or on separate pages are agencies that serve the legislature such as:

• Legislative reference libraries provide legislators and the public with background resources on bills under consideration and archival material.
• Legislative auditors or analysts review and report on state agencies, their programs and policies objectively for accountability and fiscal responsibility with the goal of improving performance and saving taxpayer dollars.

State Legislatures

Keith E. Hamm, Ronald D. Hedlund, and Nancy Martorano Miller, in the chapter “State Legislatures” of the Oxford Handbook of State and Local Government, offers some insight and critically assesses the situation and current state of scholarship on the topic. The following is a summary:This article examines the major approaches to studying state legislatures, how the approaches have shifted over time, and directions for future research. The authors argue that state legislative research has become more visible and sophisticated over time.

Further Reading

• “State Legislatures”, The Oxford Handbook of American Politics