Prescriptive Seats Revisited

Abstract

This update of Bullock's (1971) article on long-term control of House of Representatives committee seats by state party delegations finds 129 seats that have been held continuously by individual delegations for a generation and a half. The number of seats held by a single individual has, of course, declined while the incidence of extended occupancy except for brief interruptions has risen. The decline in prescriptive seats has been least on prestige committees and greatest on undesired committees.