UC Riverside

Legislative staffers are present in nearly every aspect of the legislative process. Legislative staffers research public policy, schedule meetings with interest groups, conduct constituency and much more. In this dissertation I utilize original data from Arizona, California, Indiana, and New Mexico to better understand the role that legislative staffers play in state legislatures. In chapter 1, I find that contrary to extant literature on Congressional staffers, state legislative staffer networks do not influence roll-call voting. In chapter 2, I find that state legislatures that utilize staffers in constituency service are less likely to discriminate against ethnic minority constituents. In chapter 3, I find that ethnic minority staffers are more likely to be placed in constituency service roles due to legislators’ desire to provide descriptive and substantive representation, in addition to homophily. Together these findings advance our understanding of the role of state legislative staffers in American state legislatures.