Discussing Legislative Effectiveness with Representative Joe Neguse
Transcript as follows:| Center for Effective Lawmaking
Transcript as follows:| Center for Effective Lawmaking
On March 31, 2022, Alan Wiseman, Co-Director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) moderated a discussion at Vanderbilt University where a distinguished group of panelists explored how those advocating for underrepresented groups have made progress inside and outside of Congress. The panel included Michael Eric Dyson, Centennial Chair and University Distinguished Professor of African American and Diaspora Studies and University Distinguished Professor of Ethics and Society at Vanderbilt...| 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
Meet our Faculty Affiliate: Connor Halloran Phillips The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is excited to announce the promotion of Connor Halloran Phillips from CEL Research Affiliate to Faculty Affiliate. Dr. Phillips is an Assistant Teaching Professor at the Carnegie Mellon Institute for Strategy & Technology (CMIST). His research examines interest groups, parties, legislatures, and […]| Center for Effective Lawmaking
Meet our Faculty Affiliate: Amy D. Meli The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is excited to announce the promotion of Amy D. Meli from CEL Research Affiliate to Faculty Affiliate. Dr. Meli is an assistant professor of political science at Hollins University in Roanoke, VA. Her research centers around interest groups and the way they […]| Center for Effective Lawmaking
The CEL on “The Weekly” and “Staffer” Podcasts Tuesday, August 12, 2025 Tom Wickham and Shuwanza Goff, two members of the Center for Effective Lawmaking’s (CEL) Board of Advisors, were recently featured on leading political podcasts, C-SPAN’s The Weekly and Staffer, offering their expert insights into the inner workings of Congress and public service. Tom […]| Center for Effective Lawmaking
For numerical gains in American state legislatures to translate into substantive representation, women legislators need the ability to advocate for their constituents. In this forthcoming published paper in The Journal of Politics, Associate Professor Robert McGrath (George Mason University), Associate Professor Josh Ryan (Utah State University), and Assistant Professor Jatia Wrighten (Virginia Commonwealth University) examine the determinants of legislative effectiveness in state legislature...| Center for Effective Lawmaking
The Bipartisan Path Revisited: Collaboration and Legislative Effectiveness in the U.S. States Monday, July 21, 2025 Does bipartisan collaboration enhance legislative success in U.S. state legislatures, as it does in Congress? This Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) working paper extends Harbridge-Yong, Volden, and Wiseman’s (2023) work, which finds that members of Congress are more effective […]| Center for Effective Lawmaking
Tuesday, July 22, 2025| Center for Effective Lawmaking
Coming in as the second-most effective lawmaker was Rep. Peter DeFazio of Oregon, who chaired the House Transportation Committee. He sponsored 48 bills, with nearly half of them (unsurprisingly) being related to issues of transportation and infrastructure, ranging from pay for the Coast Guard to earthquake preparedness to aircraft certification. While ten of his bills passed the House, and his language was incorporated in other bills that became law, only one of Rep. DeFazio’s bills dir...| Center for Effective Lawmaking
Support for the Center for Effective Lawmaking provided by| Center for Effective Lawmaking
CEL Co-Hosts “Capitol Connections” Event Wednesday, July 16, 2025 On Tuesday, July 8, the Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) co-hosted a networking reception titled “Capitol Connections: A UVA & Batten School Networking Mixer.” Taking place at the Sonoma Restaurant and Wine Bar in Washington, D.C., the event brought together 130 current and prospective students, alumni, […]| Center for Effective Lawmaking
Discussing Effective Lawmaking With NY Assembly Member Amy Paulin New York Assembly Member Amy Paulin has been a highly effective lawmaker in the New York General Assembly since 2000. She currently chairs the Assembly Committee on Health, and she also serves on the Committee on Rules and the Committee on Education. Throughout her distinguished career, […]| Center for Effective Lawmaking
Ms. Caldwell is the Chief Washington Correspondent for Puck News and is an Emmy Award–winning veteran of various news outlets covering politics and policy on Capitol Hill. Previously, she was a senior reporter at The Washington Post, where she was co-author of The Post’s Early 202 and an anchor for Washington Post Live. Before joining The Post in 2022, she was a correspondent at NBC News. As a member of NBC’s congressional unit, she covered both of President Donald Trump’s impeachme...| Center for Effective Lawmaking
In this Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) working paper, Co-Directors Craig Volden (University of Virginia) and Alan Wiseman (Vanderbilt University), and Faculty Affiliates Danielle Thomsen (University of California-Irvine) and Sarah Treul (University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill) examine the question of whether effective state lawmakers are more likely than ineffective state lawmakers to be elected to Congress. The authors draw on the CEL’s dataset of State Legislative Effectiven...| Center for Effective Lawmaking
The Center for Effective Lawmaking is pleased to announce the recipients of the 2025 Award for Best Publication on Effective Lawmaking, which was presented at our Seventh Annual Research Conference held at Vanderbilt University on Monday, June 2, 2025. This year’s award honors Fang-Yi Chiou (Academia Sinica) and Max Goplerud (University of Texas–Austin) for their article, “Effective Lawmaking Across Congressional Eras,” published in The Journal of Politics in 2024.| Center for Effective Lawmaking
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
