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Application of management techniques to legislators' basic functions of enacting laws, overseeing the bureaucracy, and representing constituents; U.S.; 4 articles.

This study examines the use of analytical information by major House committees. The committees are differentiated according to Fenno's classification of members' legislative goals-reelection, making good public policy, or influence in the House. The study demonstrates that policy committees are more likely to use analytical information than the other committee types. This suggests that legislators' goal orientations are an important determinant of information use.

ObjectiveThe objective of this article is to address a chief criticism of public meetings in democratic society, a lack of minority representation. Further, it explores the issue of political efficacy and the extent to which it may differ between minority and nonminority citizens.MethodsThese issues are analyzed through logistic and multiple regression models applied to the results of a random‐sample telephone survey administered across the United States (N = 601).ResultsResults indicate that members of one minority group, African Americans, are more likely to attend public meetings than whites. Further, no statistically significant differences between whites and Hispanics or other‐race individuals were found. African Americans also reported higher levels of political efficacy than whites, while no statistically significant difference was found between whites and Hispanics or other‐race individuals for this measure.ConclusionThus, public meetings are not necessarily fraught with a lack of minority representation, nor do minorities necessarily suffer from lower levels of political efficacy than whites. Findings indicate a potential for minority representation in public meetings. Thus, rather than dismissing public meetings as legally required rituals, there is reason to improve the methods used to mobilize attendance and facilitate two‐way communication between citizens and government.

The literature contains a wealth of theorizing and prescription regarding citizen participation, but little in the way of systematic evidence. We seek to increase empirical knowledge of participation through examination of public meeting participation associated with Florida's Truth-in-Millage Act requirements for local government tax and budget decisions. Unlike existing evidence on public meetings, this research is based on statistical analysis of a random-sample survey ( N = 601) and qualitative analysis of focus group results. In a departure from the standard socioeconomic explanation for citizen participation—which tends to ignore public meetings as a method of participation—we find no statistical difference in public meeting attendance based on gender, age, race, ethnicity, education, or income. Furthermore, we find that although state information requirements likely fulfill a needed purpose in providing transparency and accountability in local government tax and budget matters, they do not motivate public meeting attendance. Finally, our findings reinforce earlier contributions to the literature that emphasize the importance of citizen beliefs regarding political efficacy as a critical component of participation.

With an ever-expanding stream of solid waste, and limited possibilities for disposal, communities increasingly have to make difficult decisions about where to store these by-products of daily living. The authors use survey data from seven counties in Florida that have recently dealt with solid waste location decisions to assess the extent to which citizen attitudes reflect a NIMBY perspective to these facilities. Contrary to what the NIMBY phenomena predicts, respondents who lived closer to existing or proposed facilities were not more likely to perceive them as dangerous as those living further away. In addition, the respondents were able to list problems and benefits to support their perceptions of danger posed by these facilities. These findings suggest that citizens do not always respond to environmental risks by gut reaction or without information as is sometimes suggested in the NIMBY literature.

Environmental policy making has remained an important issue in US public policy for many years. While many individuals have proenvironmental attitudes, they remain unwilling to take the actions necessary to achieve environmental goals. Many variables have been used to explain support for environmental policy making. This study looks at the effect of uncertainty about environmental quality, perception of risk from environmental hazards, & trust in government & university scientists on willingness to take environmental action. The study examines the impact of these three variables on two environmental issues -- tap water & nuclear power. The data were collected from a national sample of 400 individuals. This article presents the results of this research & examines the complex relationships among risks, trust, uncertainty, & willingness to take environmental action. The conclusions improve our understanding of environmental attitudes as well as have practical implications for policymakers who need to build public support for policies designed to improve the environment. 4 Tables, 1 Figure, 23 References. Adapted from the source document.