Meet our new Advisory Board Member: Jill Tolles
Monday, October 13, 2025| Center for Effective Lawmaking
Announcing the Release of the 2023-2024 California State Legislature State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES) The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is proud to announce the release of our State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES) for 2023-2024 California legislative session This initiative is part of our broader effort to measure the lawmaking effectiveness of individual legislators in […]| Center for Effective Lawmaking
CEL at APSA 2025 Tuesday, October 21, 2025 Between September 11-14, the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) attended the annual American Political Science Association (APSA) conference in Vancouver, Canada titled “Reimagining Politics, Power, and Peoplehood in Crisis Times”. The event allowed for more than 5,000 political scientists, scholars, and experts across the discipline to participate […]| Center for Effective Lawmaking
Monday, October 13, 2025| Center for Effective Lawmaking
Announcing the Release of the 103rd Illinois General Assembly State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES) The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is proud to announce the release of our State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES) for the 103rd Illinois General Assembly (2023–2024). This initiative is part of our broader effort to measure the lawmaking effectiveness of individual […]| Center for Effective Lawmaking
The (Sometimes Untraceable) Origins of Policy Ideas in Congress: An Analysis of Seven Landmark Laws Research on lawmaking suggests legislative enactments are constructed in various ways. Although multiple approaches are documented in the literature, political scientists do not conclusively know which are used more often. In this paper published in Legislative Studies Quarterly – which was supported […]| Center for Effective Lawmaking
Announcing the Release of the 207th Pennsylvania General Assembly State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES) The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is proud to announce the release of our State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES) for the 207th Pennsylvania General Assembly (2023–2024). This initiative is part of our broader effort to measure the lawmaking effectiveness of individual […]| Center for Effective Lawmaking
CEL on CNN’s Smerconish Monday, September 29, 2025 Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) Co-Director Alan Wiseman of Vanderbilt University was a guest on CNN’s Smerconish to discuss the published paper “On the Decline of Elite-Educated Republicans in Congress” and the educational divide in American politics. Professor Wiseman coauthored the paper with CEL Co-Director Craig Volden of […]| Center for Effective Lawmaking
Meet our Research Affiliate: Kisoo Kim The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is excited to announce our newest research affiliate, Kisoo Kim. Dr. Kim is a postdoctoral research associate at the Frank Batten School of Leadership and Public Policy at the University of Virginia. His research examines how elections and political information hold representatives accountable […]| Center for Effective Lawmaking
The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is pleased to announce SoRelle Wyckoff Gaynor as one of our newest faculty affiliates.| Center for Effective Lawmaking
Discussing Effective Lawmaking with Nevada Speaker Jason Frierson Speaker Jason Frierson has had an expansive career in public service, including his roles as a state legislator, a federal prosecutor, and as a committed advocate for community engagement. A Democrat, Speaker Frierson served in the Nevada Assembly from 2011 to 2014 and again from 2016 to […]| Center for Effective Lawmaking
Transcript as follows:| Center for Effective Lawmaking
The Center for Effective Lawmaking seeks to advance the generation, communication, and use of new knowledge about the effectiveness of individual lawmakers and U.S. legislative institutions. We envision American legislatures comprised of effective lawmakers, strong institutional capacity, and the incentive structure needed to address America’s greatest public policy challenges.| thelawmakers.org
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Coming in as the second-most effective lawmaker was Rep. Carolyn Maloney of New York, who chaired the House Oversight and Reform Committee. She sponsored 92 bills, with more than a third of them (unsurprisingly) being related to issues of government operations, ranging from whistleblower protections to the administration of the U.S. census. While eight of her bills passed the House, and the language in one of her bills was incorporated into the National Defense Authorization Act, only two of ...| Center for Effective Lawmaking
