What conditions or factors affect how a bill is shaped?

Question

What will be an ideal response?

Answer 1

Varies. Several factors are quickly mentioned in the book, while others are alluded to (but are not pointed out explicitly). There are many individual elements that condition the final shape of a bill. This question could solicit a long or short answer. Some of the relevant factors include: 1. The mix of "players" or participants, including interest groups and their lobbyists, individual legislators, citizens, administrators, staff members, other elected officials, and so forth. 2. Personal relationships among the members, which could help facilitate coalitions or compromise (or hinder them). 3. Reputations of members as specialists or experts in their field. 4. Rules, such as whether a simple majority or a supermajority is required for passage, or those imposed by initiatives (such as devoting almost 40% of the budget to education spending). 5. Timing, such as whether the bill has been introduced before and support for it has been building over time, or whether there is a new governor who is opposed to it or sympathetic to it, or whether it addresses a pressing problem or recent crisis. 6. The governor's ideological, practical, or political concerns, and whether those have been communicated to the bill's author or committee chairperson. 7. Public opinion, or interest levels expressed by certain constituencies or groups. 8. Fiscal costs (long-term, short-term) and available funds. 9. Political costs (how will a vote affect the representative's chances for reelection?). 10. Compromise, meaning the extent to which the provisions accommodate participants' concerns. 11. Anticipated outcomes and analyses provided by staff or outside groups. 12. Party leaders' concerns, or the position of the party caucus. 13. The values, beliefs, and goals of the legislators working on the bill. 14. Wider environmental or institutional factors, such as which party is in charge (who is in the majority), whether the same majority party is in both houses, the strength of the majority party, and whether the governor shares the partisanship of the majority party in both or either house.