Center for Effective Lawmaking

Center for Effective Lawmaking

University of Virginia
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Vanderbilt University

Legislative Effectiveness, Progressive Ambition, and Electoral Success
Center Affiliates / Faculty Affiliates / Legislative Anaylsis / State Legislative Effectiveness Scores

Legislative Effectiveness, Progressive Ambition, and Electoral Success

Legislative Effectiveness, Progressive Ambition, and Electoral Success Monday, June 30, 2025In this Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) working paper, Co-Directors Craig Volden (University of Virginia) and Alan Wiseman (Vanderbilt University), and Faculty Affiliates Danielle Thomsen (University of California-Irvine) and Sarah Treul (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) examine the question of whether effective state lawmakers are more likely than ineffective state lawmakers to be elected to Congress. The authors draw on the CEL's dataset of State Legislative Effectiveness Scores from 1993 to 2018 to examine the relationship between lawmaker effectiveness and the…

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June 30, 2025
Habits of Effective Lawmaking: CEL Highlights Bipartisanship at Nevada’s Gallagher Dialogues
Blog / Events / State Legislatures

Habits of Effective Lawmaking: CEL Highlights Bipartisanship at Nevada’s Gallagher Dialogues

Photo credit: Guinn Center Habits of Effective Lawmaking: CEL Highlights Bipartisanship at Nevada’s Gallagher Dialogues This February, Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) Co-Directors Craig Volden and Alan Wiseman were honored to be keynote speakers at the 3rd Annual Gallagher Dialogues, convened by the Kenny Guinn Center for Policy Priorities in Reno, Nevada. First convened in 2023, the Gallagher Dialogues pay tribute to the legacy of Tom Gallagher, the late founder of the Guinn Center, who was deeply committed to advancing democracy, bipartisanship, and the free exchange of ideas.Now the Guinn…

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June 18, 2025
Gendered Perceptions of Legislative Influence (Published Paper)
Center Affiliates / Faculty Affiliates / Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research / State Legislatures

Gendered Perceptions of Legislative Influence (Published Paper)

Gendered Perceptions of Legislative Influence (Published Paper) Tuesday, May 13, 2025In this published paper in Perspectives on Politics based on a Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) working paper, Faculty Affiliate Jaclyn Kaslovsky (Washington University in St. Louis), Tabitha Koch (Rice University), and Michael P. Olson (also of Washington University) examine whether legislative and electoral accomplishments translate into perceived influence differently for women and men. Women legislators often report that they must work harder than men to achieve the same outcomes and recognition. Yet, little previous scholarship has quantitatively examined whether legislative…

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May 12, 2025
Announcing the Release of the State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES)​
State Legislative Effectiveness Scores / State Legislatures

Announcing the Release of the State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES)​

Announcing the Release of the State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES) The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is proud to announce the release of our State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES) — a groundbreaking effort to measure the lawmaking effectiveness of individual legislators in all 99 state legislative chambers in the United States over recent decades. These scores capture the lawmaking effectiveness of the members of each legislature based on the number of bills they sponsor, how far those bills progress through the different stages of the legislative process, and the substantive…

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April 29, 2025
Legislative Effectiveness in the American States (Published Paper)
Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research / State Legislative Effectiveness Scores / State Legislatures

Legislative Effectiveness in the American States (Published Paper)

Legislative Effectiveness in the American States (Published Paper) The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is excited to announce that our "Legislative Effectiveness in the American States" paper has been published by the American Political Science Review. This paper, written by CEL Co-Directors Craig Volden (UVA Frank Batten School) and Alan Wiseman (Vanderbilt University), and research consultant Peter Bucchianeri, serves as the basis of our State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES) used to analyze state legislators across 97 legislative chambers over recent decades, based on the number of bills that they sponsor,…

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February 12, 2025
CEL Presentation to Charlottesville NOW
Events / Legislative Anaylsis

CEL Presentation to Charlottesville NOW

CEL Presentation to Charlottesville NOW Thursday, February 6, 2025 On Tuesday, February 4, Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) Co-Director and UVA Frank Batten School Professor Craig Volden gave a presentation to the Charlottesville chapter of the National Organization for Women (NOW). The organization engages in the fight for women's rights, and works with its members and partners with other organizations to push for social change. Professor Volden's presentation, entitled “The Keys to Effective Lawmaking in Congress and the Virginia General Assembly,” explained the mission of the CEL, the construction of our Legislative…

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February 6, 2025
CEL at the Legislative Leadership Program
Conference / Events / Legislative Anaylsis / Legislative Research / State Legislatures

CEL at the Legislative Leadership Program

CEL at the Legislative Leadership Program Monday, February 3, 2025Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) Co-Director Alan Wiseman recently presented at Michigan State University’s Legislative Leadership Program (LLP). Residing under the Michigan State University’s  Institute for Public Policy and Social Research College of Social Science (IPPSR) since its 1994 inception, the LLP invites new members of Michigan’s House of Representatives and Senate to engage in interactive small-group sessions with university faculty in the brief time between their election and their first legislative sessions. The program is built upon a series of…

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January 31, 2025
The Concentration of Legislative Effectiveness in the American States
Legislative Anaylsis / State Legislatures

The Concentration of Legislative Effectiveness in the American States

The Concentration of Legislative Effectiveness in the American States Wednesday, November 13 In this Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) working paper, Professor Todd Makse of Florida International University and Jacob Lollis of the University of Virginia examine how effective lawmaking is distributed among legislators within a chamber. While legislative effectiveness scores for individual lawmakers are often emphasized, this paper highlights the frequently overlooked importance of evaluating how effectiveness is spread across all members of a legislative body. Through analyzing legislative effectiveness data, the authors develop new measures to assess the…

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November 13, 2024
CEL Event: Effective Lawmaking in Virginia
Conversations with Lawmakers / Events / Video

CEL Event: Effective Lawmaking in Virginia

Former Virginia House Minority Leader David Toscano and former Speaker Bill Howell (from left to right). (Photo by Ryan Strand, Batten School). CEL Event: Effective Lawmaking in Virginia On Monday, February 5, 2024, the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL), within the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia, held a presentation titled   “Effective Lawmaking in Virginia: Past, Present, and Future” as part of the school’s Batten Hour series. The panel discussion featured Bill Howell, former Speaker of the Virginia House of Delegates, and David…

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February 12, 2024

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