You are here

Prof. John Wilkerson and Political Science Graduate Andreu Casas Win CQ Press Award

Submitted by Stephen Dunne on October 11, 2019 - 4:36pm

Prof. and Chair John Wilkerson and Political Science Graduate Andreu Casas awarded the CQ Press Award for the best paper on legislative studies.

Abstract: For more than half a century, scholars have been studying legislative effectiveness using a single metric—whether the bills a member sponsors progress through the legislative  process.  We  investigate  a less orthodox form  of effectiveness—bill  proposals that become law as provisions of other bills.  Counting these “hitchhiker” bills as additional cases of bill sponsorship success reveals a more productive, less hierarchical, and less partisan lawmaking process.  We argue that agenda and procedural constraints are central to understanding why lawmakers pursue hitchhiker strategies.  We also investigate the legislative vehicles that attract hitchhikers and find, among other things, that more Senate bills are enacted as hitchhikers on House laws than become law on their own.

Please link here for the full text (PDF)

Share