POLS 207 Exam 2
Terms
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- Constituents
- residents of a legislator's district; the people who are represented by a legislator
- Servicing the District
- legislators spend a great deal of time answering requests from constituents
- Legislative Oversight
- the monitoring of the activities of state agencies by the legislature and its committees
- Sunset Laws
- laws that fix termination dates for programs and agencies in order to force the legislature to renew them if the legislators wish the programs to continue
- Net Worth
- the total value of all assets after subtracting the total value of all outstanding debts
- Tort
- a civil wrong that results in damages
- Full-time Legislators
- those for whom service in the legislature is their primary occupation. In states with full-time legislators, legislator salaries are typically higher.
- Citizen Legislator
- Legislators who spend a few months in the state capitol during the regular session, then return home to their own business or profession
- "527" Type Organization
- an independent advocacy group that can spend an unlimited amount of money for or against a candidate
- Uncontested Election
- an election in which a candidate has no opponent
- "Safe" Districts
- districts in which there is little party competition, one party dominates
- "Close" Districts
- very competitive districts where electoral competition is great
- Competition Election
- an election in which the loser receives at least one-third of the votes
- Incumbents
- persons currently serving in elective or appointed positions in government
- Quality Challengers
- people who have won previous state or local elections and can raise campaign funds
- Constituent Service
- services performed by legislators or their staffs for individual constituents
- Careerism
- in politics, the tendency of people to view running for and occupying elected public office as a full-time career
- Apportionment
- the determination of how many residents should live in a representative's district
- Traditional Redistricting Principles
- compactness; contiguity; keeping communities of interest, counties, towns, and precincts together
- Malapportionment
- unequal numbers of people in legislative districts creating inequality of representation
- Districting
- drawing geographical boundaries of representatives' districts
- Gerrymandering
- the drawing of electoral district boundary lines to grant political advantage to a particular party, candidate, or group
- Splintering
- in districting, dividing and diluting a strong minority to deny it the ability to elect a number of representatives comparable to its percentage of the population
- Packing
- concentrating partisan voters in a single district in order to maximize the number of representatives that can be elected by the opposition in other districts
- Partisan Gerrymandering
- the drawing of electoral district boundary lines to grant political advantage to a particular party, therefore increasing the number of winning candidates within that party
- Affirmative Racial Gerrymandering
- drawing legislative district lines in order to maximize opportunities for minority candidates to win elections
- Majority-Minority Districts
- districts in which minorities make up the majority of the population
- Multimember Legislative Districts
- districts from which two or more members are elected to a legislative body, must meet equal population size criteria
- Ideal District Population
- the ideal population within a district, calculated by dividing the total state population by the total number of districts in each legislative chamber
- Independent Nonpartisan Commissions
- Bodies designed to impartially and without political interference, redistrict in an effort to decrease political gerrymandering
- Logjams
- in legislative affairs, the rush to pass a large number of bills at the end of the session
- Train
- a number of bills are combined into a single bill which legislators must vote up or down
- Sessions
- the meetings of elected legislative bodies from their initial convening to their official adjournment
- Annual Legislative Sessions
- legislative sessions that take place every year
- Biennial Sessions
- legislative sessions that take place every two years
- Special Sessions
- legislative sessions that may be called by the governor, or in some states by the legislative leadership, to consider special topics
- Professionalism
- the extent to which members are devoted full time to their legislative jobs and have the assistance of staffs and other legislative support services
- Staff
- Aides employed to assist individual members or committees in their work
- "Coattail" Effects
- legislators gaining electoral support when running with a popular gubernatorial, US senatorial, or presidential candidate of the same party
- Turnover Rate
- in legislatures, the percentage of members replaced in each legislative session
- "Institutional Memory"
- the knowledge of veteran legislators about how issues were handled in the past
- "Pigeonholed"
- a bill is ignored, never reported out of committee
- Standing Committees
- regular committees of a legislature that deal with bills within specified subject areas
- Bill Referrals
- the assignment of bills to specific committees, usually by the Speaker of the House and the Senate President
- Presiding Officer
- leader of a legislative chamber selected from the majority party
- Speaker of the House
- the presiding officer of the lower house of a legislature
- President of the Senate
- the presiding officer of the upper house of a legislature
- Majority Leader
- a leader in the controlling party who is supposed to "get the administrative program through"
- Minority Leader
- the leader of the minority party who is supposed to develop a "constructive opposition" against the policies of the controlling party
- Subject-Matter Experts
- legislators who gain a reputation for having in-depth knowledge of a particular issue
- Trustee
- a role that representatives adopt when they decide to vote their conscience and use their best personal judgment rather than catering to the narrow interests of their constituents
- Delegate
- a legislator votes on bills based on the priorities of the constituents back home rather than on his/her personal views
- Burkean Representation
- the belief that legislators should use their own best judgment about what is good for their state or nation, rather than conforming to their constituents' narrow interest
- Responsiveness
- the extent to which legislators appear to reflect the views of their constituents in their lawmaking
- "Politico"
- a legislator who plays both the delegate and trustee roles, but at different times, depending on how "hot" the issue is back home in the district
- Party Voting
- in legislatures, voting in which a majority of one party's members vote in opposition to a majority of the other party's members
- Capitol, or Statehouse, Press Corps
- reporters from various news outlets who are assigned to cover state government full time. The capitol press corps usually expands while the legislature is in session.
- Constituent Lobbying
- individual citizens letting their representatives know how they feel about key issues before the legislature, these constituents are therefore lobbying their representatives