Political Parties as Vehicles for Organizing U. S. State Legislative Committees

Abstract

In this paper we assess the role of political parties in organizing state legislative committees. This research is guided by an explanation found in Malcolm E. Jewell's early work on responsible political parties in U.S. state legislatures and in his more recent assessment of the conditions associated with state legislative control by strong political parties. We evaluate majority party representation (MPR) on the membership of all standing committees in 10 state legislative chambers for the last two sessions in each decade of the twentieth century. Findings from two of our earlier studies of majority party representation on committees are also included.