LEGISLATIVE BODIES

Because of our legal background, it might seem to us that most legislators are attorneys. That is not the case! A recent data survey for 2009 published by the National Conference of State Legislatures identified the educational background of the legislators in the individual states and it appears that being an attorney is not the dominant professional degree for legislators. Instead, holding a bachelor’s degree outnumbered law degrees almost two-to-one. Following those with only BAs were those legislators earning master’s degrees. Finally, legislators with JDs came in third in line. The survey also broke out those who attained only a high school degree and those who took some college courses.

The NCSL survey reported that the state with the highest percentage of bachelor’s degrees in its legislature was Tennessee (45.04%). The state with the highest percentage of master’s degrees was Oregon (32.95%).

Looking at the population of attorneys in the state legislatures, the state with the lowest percentage of JDs was Delaware (3.28%) followed closely by Montana (3.33%) and New Hampshire (3.31%). The state with the highest percentage of attorneys in its legislature was Ohio (32.06%).

Individual states vary, so let’s look at ten states legislators’ education levels limited to bachelor’s, master’s, and JD degrees:

• Alabama: The legislature in Montgomery is made up of 38.41% BAs, 25.36% MAs, and 17.39% JDs.
• California: BAs make up 36.13%, MAs make up 23.53%, and JDs make up 21.01% of the legislature in Sacramento.
• Colorado: At the Denver Capitol, 22% are BAs, 21% are MAs, and 12% are JDs
• Georgia: The state legislature in Atlanta is made up of 41.20% BAs, 10.30% MAs, and 15.45% JDs.
• Illinois: The legislature in Springfield is made up of 32.20% with BAs, 22.60% with MAs, and 19.21% with JDs.
• Louisiana: BAs make up 34.51%, MAs make up 10.56%, and JDs make up 26.76% of the Baton Rouge legislature.
• New York: The Albany legislature is made up of 31.75% with BAs, 21.80% with MAs, and 28.44% with JDs.
• Ohio: At the Columbus Capitol, 29.01% hold a BA, 13.74% hold a MA, and 32.06% hold a JD.
• Texas: The legislature in Austin is made up of 37.02% BAs, 12.15% MAs, and 30.94% JDs.
• Washington: The Olympia Capitol’s legislature is made up of 38.10% BAs, 23.13% MAs, and 6.80% JDs.

LEGISLATIVE CALENDARS

Working with individual states to provide legislative histories compels us at LIS to become familiar with different legislative sessions’ timetables. California, which just ended its current session at the end of August and is awaiting Governor Schwarzenegger’s approval of enrolled bills, is one of the last states to wrap up its regular session in 2010. Other states adjourned their regular sessions sometime in March, such as Idaho, Indiana, Utah, and Virginia, or in April, such as Alaska, Florida, Hawaii and Maryland. These early adjournments do not mean that legislative business is finished because various states legislatures will continue to meet throughout the year and special sessions can be called to address specific topics, from budget, finance reform, education and transportation. In California, there were eight extraordinary legislative sessions called to address specific issues, including the state budget, during the 2009 – 2010 legislative session.