Staff Professionalism: Evidence-based Policy-making Process in State Legislature

• In Event: Poster Session: Legislative Studies

Abstract

This paper will discuss state legislative staff’s professionalization focusing on the evidence-based public policymaking process in state legislatures, especially in Missouri and Illinois. To make evidence-based policies, we need experts in the process. However, since we are not in the circle of the decision-making process, I will use two methods to look into the circle; firstly, a survey of legislative staffs in the Missouri General Assembly in Jefferson City, Missouri, and the Illinois General Assembly in Springfield, Illinois. Second, this paper will focus on one policy area for case studies of the two states; education policy.
Legislative staffs’ professional level has increased in the U.S. over time, both at the state and federal levels; however, it is still not clear how legislative staffs and their professionalization influence the decision-making process in American State Legislatures. We, however, still need to study more on a state level, and their staffing. This paper analyzes staff professionalism focusing on their policy-making process in American State Legislatures focusing on Missouri and Illinois.
It is evident that experts are needed to make evidence-based public policies. To understand the experts who are making the policies, there are indirect ways to measure legislative staffs in state legislatures using their spending of a budget on staffing, or legislative activities. However, it is not enough to fully understand how the legislative activities are working in the circle. Surveys on actual legislative staffs in states are the only way to measure actual policy-making processes and staffs' role in the process. It is not only to understand their actual role in the bill making process, but also to measure their professionalism to impact on decision-making processes. The surveys will be conducted in Jefferson City, Missouri, and Springfield, Illinois in person to ask questions regarding on their professionalization and the impact on the policy-making process. Questions start from their education level, previous experience, hours of working on the legislative process. Also, it covers staffs' legislative activities such as how they collect information, how many hearings they attend to discuss topics, whom they meet, and how they sort data based on which information they collect.
Missouri and Illinois share a border, but have lots of different political conditions. With case studies of each state, this paper also can compare how the two states are different in the policy-making process. Illinois staff's professionalization level is higher than Missouri; however, how the staffs' capability impacts the actual decision-making process is unclear and hard to understand outside of the circle. This is why we need the survey and to focus on a particular policy case. Education policy is a universal area, and it is easy to compare two different states.
Staff in American State Legislatures are a large part of the whole system of the policy-making process. State legislatures are essential since they serve their constituents and are based on the federal system of the States. At the same time, they have limited time, money, and power that they can use to serve. The professionalization of the staff is meant to pursue the staffs' limited resources and to make evidence-based public policy. To verify how legislative staffs play their roles in the evidence-based public policy-making process, I conduct surveys in the Missouri and the Illinois General Assembly, along with case studies on education policy.

Author

• Lee Seulhan, University of Missouri-Columbia