About the CEL – Center for Effective Lawmaking

Center for Effective Lawmaking 2025 Annual Report

Center for Effective Lawmaking 2025 Annual Report The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is celebrating another successful year with the release of our annual report. Founded in 2017 as a joint venture between the University of Virginia’s Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy and Vanderbilt University, the Center’s trusted methodology and analyses have been cited in hundreds of news articles and widely used by lawmakers and their staffs, scholars, and many others around the country who care about effective lawmaking.Highlights over the last year include:Updating our Legislative Effectiveness Scores for…

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November 24, 2025

Highlights from the New 118th Congress Interest & Legislative Effectiveness Scores

Highlights from the New 118th Congress Interest & Legislative Effectiveness Scores By Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman, Co-Directors, Center for Effective LawmakingWednesday, November 19, 2025The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is pleased to announce the release of the Interest & Legislative Effectiveness Scores (ILES) in each of 21 different issue areas for the 118th Congress (2023-25). These categories are based on issue area codes from the Comparative Agendas Project with bill issue codings drawn from www.congress.gov. The methodology that we employed to construct these issue-based scores is the same as…

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November 19, 2025

About the CEL / Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research

2025-2026 Small Grant Awards Announced

2025-2026 Small Grant Awards Announced Thursday, November 13, 2025The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is proud to present its 8th annual small grant awards and recipients. The awards are given to scholars who are researching topics that connect to the mission of the CEL to advance the generation, communication, and use of new knowledge about the effectiveness of individual lawmakers and legislative institutions. This group of scholars will join previous grant recipients who have made insightful contributions to the study of lawmaking effectiveness. We are honored to support the awardees…

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November 13, 2025

About the CEL / Board of Advisors

Meet our new Advisory Board Member: Jill Tolles

Meet our new Advisory Board Member: Jill Tolles Monday, October 13, 2025The Center for Effective Lawmaking is excited to welcome Jill Tolles to our Board of Advisors.Tolles is the Executive Director of the Kenny Guinn Center for Policy Priorities. She has taught at the University of Nevada since 2005, where she received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Communication Studies. She is also on the faculty of the National Judicial College, where she teaches courtroom management, collaborative decision-making, and procedural fairness to judges from around the nation and the world.Prior to…

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October 13, 2025

About the CEL / Legislative Research

Call for 2025-2026 Small Grant Awards

Call for 2025-2026 Small Grant Awards Proposal deadline: September 30, 2025Awards announced by: November 15, 2025The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) welcomes applications for grants to fund research consistent with the mission of the Center. The Center advances the generation, communication, and use of new knowledge about the effectiveness of individual lawmakers and U.S. legislative institutions. See our website (www.thelawmakers.org) for more on the CEL.The research receiving support must focus on effective lawmaking and must be designed to make an original scholarly contribution, generating and communicating new knowledge. We are especially interested…

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August 26, 2025

About the CEL / Board of Advisors / Conversations with Lawmakers

The CEL on “The Weekly” and “Staffer” Podcasts

The CEL on "The Weekly" and "Staffer" Podcasts Tuesday, August 12, 2025Tom Wickham and Shuwanza Goff, two members of the Center for Effective Lawmaking’s (CEL) Board of Advisors, were recently featured on leading political podcasts, C-SPAN’s The Weekly and Staffer, offering their expert insights into the inner workings of Congress and public service.Tom Wickham is the former Parliamentarian of the U.S. House of Representatives, and currently serves as Senior Vice President of state and local policy at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. On this episode of The Weekly podcast -…

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August 12, 2025

About the CEL / Board of Advisors / Center Affiliates

Meet our new Advisory Board Member: Leigh Ann Caldwell

Meet our new Advisory Board Member: Leigh Ann Caldwell The Center for Effective Lawmaking is excited to welcome Leigh Ann Caldwell to our Board of Advisors.Ms. Caldwell is the Chief Washington Correspondent for Puck News and is an Emmy Award–winning veteran of various news outlets covering politics and policy on Capitol Hill. Previously, she was a senior reporter at The Washington Post, where she was co-author of The Post’s Early 202 and an anchor for Washington Post Live. Before joining The Post in 2022, she was a correspondent at NBC News. As a…

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July 10, 2025

About the CEL / Center Affiliates / Conference / Events / Faculty Affiliates

Advancing the Study of Effective Lawmaking: Highlights from CEL’s 7th Annual Research Conference

Group photo in the Commons Center (photo by Anne Rayner) Advancing the Study of Effective Lawmaking: Highlights from CEL’s 7th Annual Research Conference Nashville, TN – On Monday, June 2nd, 2025, the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) hosted its 7th annual research conference at Vanderbilt University. The conference brought together researchers and practitioners from around the country to share their latest research findings and to discuss trends in effective lawmaking in congress and state legislatures. The morning opened with remarks from CEL co-director Alan Wiseman, Associate Provost of Strategic Projects…

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June 11, 2025

About the CEL / Center Affiliates / Conference / Events / Faculty Affiliates / Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research

Recognizing Innovation in Legislative Research: 2025 Best Publication on Effective Lawmaking Award

Max Goplerud (R) being presented with the CEL’s Best Publication award by co-director Craig Volden (L) (Photo by Anne Rayner). Recognizing Innovation in Legislative Research: 2025 Best Publication on Effective Lawmaking Award The Center for Effective Lawmaking is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025 Award for Best Publication on Effective Lawmaking, which was presented at our Seventh Annual Research Conference held at Vanderbilt University on Monday, June 2, 2025. This year’s award honors Fang-Yi Chiou (Academia Sinica) and Max Goplerud (University of Texas–Austin) for their article, “Effective Lawmaking…

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June 11, 2025

About the CEL / Center Affiliates

Meet our Program Director for State Legislatures: Paige Higginson-Rollins

Meet our Program Director for State Legislatures: Paige Higginson-Rollins The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is pleased to officially introduce Paige Higginson-Rollins as our new Program Director for State Legislatures. In this role, she is dedicated to empowering state legislatures, lawmakers, and stakeholders to improve the effectiveness of legislative institutions.Prior to joining the CEL, Paige worked on public health communications and research initiatives in Michigan and Kentucky. In 2013, she graduated summa cum laude from the University of Kentucky in international relations and economics and earned her master’s degree in public health in 2016.…

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February 24, 2025