Look Again at State Capacity: The Old Gray Mare Ain't What she Used to be

¹ Data for this article are drawn from the author's research for the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations. Interpretations are those of the author and not necessarily those of the Commission. Appreciation goes to David B. Walker, Albert J. Richter, and other ACIR staff members for their assistance.

2 Commission on Intergovernmental Relations , A Report to the President for Transmittal to Congress (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Government Printing Office, 1955), p. 37.

3 Albert L. Sturm , "State Constitutions and Constitutional Revision, 1976-77," Book of the States, 1978-79 (Lexington, Ky.: The Council of State Governments, 1978), p. 203.

4 For a running account of state constitutional revision, see Sturm's annual article in the January issues of the National Civic Review.

5 Book of the States, 1980-81, p. 19.

6" Richard H. Leach , "A Quiet Revolution: 1933-1976," Book of the States, 1975-76, p. 25.

7"See, for example, Sturm, p. 162; and Elmer E. Cornwell, Jr. , Jay S. Goodman , and Wayne R. Swanson , State Constitutional Conventions: The Politics of the Revision Process in Seven States (New York: Praeger Publishers, 1975), p. 158.

1979 figures for women from Insurance Information Institute as reported in "Women, Educators Gain Ground in Statehouses," U.S. News and World Report, December 17, 1979, p. 74.

9"Insurance Information Survey, ibid.

10 Alan Rosenthal , "The Scope of Legislative Reform," in Strengthening the States: Essays on Legislative Reform, edited by Donald Herzberg and Alan Rosenthal (Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday and Company, Inc., Anchor Books, 1972), pp. 3-4.

11 Book of the States, 1980-81, pp. 104-105. Much of the legislative data is from this source and the 1964-65 edition.

12 Donovan Peeters , "State Legislative History Resources: A Survey of the 50 States" (Annapolis: General Assembly of Maryland, Department of Legislative Reference, September 22, 1981).

13 Lucinda S. Simon , A Legislator's Guide to Staffing Patterns (Denver, Colo.: The National Conference of State Legislatures, 1979).

14Book of the States, 1980-81, pp. 140-141.

For a discussion of state legislative appropriation of federal funds, see James E. Skok , "Federal Funds and State Legislatures: Executive-Legislative Conflict in State Government," Public Administration Review 40 (November/December 1980): pp. 561-567. This issue of PAR includes a symposium on legislative administration.

16 Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations , "State Legislative Oversight of Federal Funds: An Update," Information Bulletin 79-5, August, 1979, p. 8.

17 Larry Sabato , Goodbye to Goodtime Charlie: The American Governor Transformed, 1950-1975 (Lexington, Mass.: Lexington Books, 1978).

and Book of the States, 1980-81.

19 Ibid.

20 Book of the States, 1980-81.

2 Ibid.

Figures for 1980 from Book of the States, 1980-81.

23 See, for example, David S. Broder , "Nation's Governors Will Be Heard," New Haven Register, August 26, 1980.

24 Larry Sabato , "Governors' New Office Careers: A New Breed Emerges," State Government 52 (Summer 1979): p. 95.

25 Parris N. Glendening , "The Public Perception of State Government and Governors," State Government 53 (1980): p. 119.

26 "Council for Economic Development, Modernizing State Government (New York: 1967), p. 14.

and James L. Garnett , Reorganizing State Government: The Executive Branch (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1980), p. 4.

28 A. E. Buck , The Reorganization of State Government in the United States (New York: Columbia University Press, 1938), p. 14. Disagreement prevails as to what standards should be used.

and State Government News, January, 1980.

³⁰ Bell, p. 112.

31 Book of the States, 1964-65; Book of the States, 1980-81, pp. 208-212.

Judith Nicholson , "State Administrative Organization Activities, 1976-77," Book of the States, 1978-79, p. 107.

33 Kennedy J. Meier , "Executive Reorganization of Government: Impact on Employment and Expenditures," American Journal of Political Science 24 (August 1980): pp. 396-411.

³⁴ American State Administrators Project, Institute for Research in the Social Sciences, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, 1978.

³⁵ Beyle.

³⁶ Some of this has come from those concerned with possible bias in the examinations used for selection and its effect on minorities. In other instances, critics have focused on bureaucratic unresponsiveness and the difficulties of removing incompetent personnel.

37 David R. Cooke and Evan B. Hammond , "Civil Service Reform," Book of the States, 1980-81, p. 242.

38 U.S. Office of Personnel Management , 1979 Annual Statistical Report on State and Local Personnel Systems (Washington, D.C.: June, 1980), p. 43.

39 F. Ted Hebert and Deil S. Wright , "State Administrators: How Representative? How Professional?" State Government 55 (1982).

40 U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations , Intergovernmental Grant System as Seen by Local, State, and Federal Officials, Report A-54 (Washington, D.C.: March, 1977), p. 191.

41 U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations , State-Local Relations in the Criminal Justice System, Report A-38 (Washington, D.C.: September, 1970), Chapter 2.

42 Larry Berkson and Susan B. Carbon , Court Unification: History, Politics and Implementation (Washington, D.C.: U.S. Department of Justice, Institute of Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice, 1978), p. 46.

Jag C. Uppal, Director, Secretariat Services, National Center for State Courts, Williamsburg, Va., by letter to the author, March 5, 1981.

44"Berkson and Carbon, p. 11. See, also, Jeffrey Parness and Chris Korbakes , A Study of the Procedural Rule-Making Power in the United States (Chicago, III.: American Judicature Society, 1973).

45 Berkson and Carbon, p. 13, citing Carl Baar , Separate But Subservient: Court Budgeting in the United States (Lexington, Mass.: D.C. Heath, 1975), p. 13.

46 Harry O. Larson , et al. , State Funding of Court Systems: An Initial Examination (Washington, D.C.: American University Bar Institute Criminal Courts and Technical Assistance Project, 1979).

47 Book of the States, 1980-81, pp. 156-157.

48lbid., pp. 158-163.

49 Timothy Pyne , Judicial Retirement Plans (Chicago: American Judicature Society, 1980), pp. 4-5.

50 Jag C. Uppal , "The State of the Judiciary," Book of the States, 1980-81, p. 143.

51 See U.S. Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations , Significant Features of Fiscal Federalism, 1980-81 Edition, Report M-132 (Washington, D.C.: December, 1981), pp. 93-199, for profiles on individual states' finances.

52Ibid., p. 10, and ACIR staff calculations.

⁵³ "Ibid., p. 54.

⁵⁴ Ibid., p. 76.

See their "State Tax Increases: Rx for Ailing Budgets?" State Legislatures (July/August 1982).

56 Ronald Kraatz and Maxine Shields list 61 state tasks specified in block grant legislation, 38 of which involve certification of state performance, in their paper, "Federal Roles Under Block Grants," prepared for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Resources Intergovernmental Program, 1982, Appendix B.

57 U.S. Comptroller General , Early Observations on Block Grant Implementation, GAO/GGD-82-79 (Washington, D.C.: U.S. General Accounting Office, August 24, 1982), p. i.