IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/wly/reggov/v18y2024i4p1369-1394.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Regulation timing in the states: The role of divided government and legislative recess

Author

Listed:
  • Tracey Bark
  • Elizabeth Bell
  • Ani Ter‐Mkrtchyan

Abstract

Bureaucratic rulemaking is a key feature of American policymaking. However, rulemaking activities do not occur uniformly, but fluctuate throughout the year. We consider three mechanisms to explain these changes in rule volume, each of which produces unique expectations for rulemaking during periods of divided government and legislative recess. To test these expectations, we leverage an original dataset including all rules proposed by bureaucratic agencies in three U.S. states from 2004 to 2013 matched with data tracking periods of divided government and legislative recess. We find that state bureaucracies publish significantly more proposed rules during periods of divided government or a split legislature and are most productive in the months immediately following legislative recess. These results underscore the importance of bureaucratic policymaking and improve our understanding of the balance of power between branches of state governments.

Suggested Citation

  • Tracey Bark & Elizabeth Bell & Ani Ter‐Mkrtchyan, 2024. "Regulation timing in the states: The role of divided government and legislative recess," Regulation & Governance, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 18(4), pages 1369-1394, October.
    • Handle: RePEc:wly:reggov:v:18:y:2024:i:4:p:1369-1394
    DOI: 10.1111/rego.12583
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://doi.org/10.1111/rego.12583
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1111/rego.12583?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:wly:reggov:v:18:y:2024:i:4:p:1369-1394. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Wiley Content Delivery (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://doi.org/10.1111/(ISSN)1748-5991 .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.