Leadership, Party Caucuses, and Committees in U. S. State Legislatures

Abstract

The role of the elected party leadership, the caucuses, and the committees in the management of legislative business varies considerably among state legislative chambers in the United States, depending in part upon the majority party's percentage of seats and in part upon the size of the chamber. The party caucus is less central in chambers which are large or have dominant parties. Where the majority party caucus is central, legislators express greater satisfaction with committee decisions than with caucus decisions. This may be explained by an accommodating committee assignment process, which allows legislators to build up communities of interest, and by the fact that committees are normally smaller than caucuses, allowing individual members to have greater input.