New age dawns for legislative staff.

• Author: Weberg, Brian
• Position: State legislatures

As the 21st century looms, changes from within and without are causing legislative staff agencies to adapt. It's no longer business as usual in the legislature.

Once upon a time in an era not too distant from our own, state legislatures were reviled by academicians, ignored by the media, dominated by the executive branch and generally considered irrelevant by the public. Indicted as "sometime governments," they anxiously swallowed a potion of prescribed cure-alls. One element mixed into this witches' brew had amazing transformative power. The not-so-secret, yet magical ingredient was staffing. Through the healing power of professional staff services, state legislatures rose from their sickbeds, dusted off their constitutional authority and began flexing long neglected and atrophied policymaking muscles.

Soon, as history's clock will record it, state legislatures were fit and ready for the good fight. More than 36,000 legislative staff, most of them nonpartisan and working in service agencies, were in their employ. Staff were wilting bills, analyzing budgets, managing information, researching issues, processing legislation, programming computers, printing reports, staffing committees, overseeing the executive branch and providing security. These legislative employees became the embodiment and symbol of institutional capacity, backbone and memory.

The legislative staff success story is remarkable. Today, many people make their careers at the legislature where only a few decades ago such opportunities were rare. The typical legislative staff person is highly educated, dedicated, talented and experienced. Most are reasonably compensated and work in professional settings where they use sophisticated tools and analytical skills.

The story for staff, however, continues to unfold. In fact, the story might really be told as a drama about the evolution of legislatures and their staff that is laced with uncertainty and that features that most infamous and unpredictable antagonist - change. The future story line is unclear, but it is possible that some staff, especially those of the nonpartisan ilk, could find themselves written out of the script. Why? Perhaps, ironically, because of their profound success.

IS THIS "THE AGE OF INSTABILITY?"

Change. How can something that is said to be all around us seem so elusive and difficult to grasp? And how can it be that today's change is that much more significant than past versions? Indeed, the legislative environment has been and always will be dynamic. The difference today is in the confluence of several important rivers of change - many key developments occurring together that have important consequences for legislative staff and the services they provide.

Most observers of state legislatures see four primary changes taking place today: 1) astonishing advancements in information technology and access, 2) growing public distrust of government, 3) increasing demands for productivity from state government (e.g., devolution), and 4) significant changes in the nature, expectations and goals of elected officials. Combined, these changes create cross currents that challenge the best institutional navigators.

State legislative guru and political scientist Alan Rosenthal sees state legislatures entering a new period that he calls deinstitutionalization. It is a movement away from the "boundedness" attained by legislatures through stable membership, adherence to unique norms and traditions, and solid internal control of rules and procedures. "The boundaries between legislatures and their environments are breaking down," writes Rosenthal. "Pressures from without (albeit reinforced by pressures from within) have succeeded in limiting terms and careers, in eroding whatever normative system might have existed earlier and in wresting away legislative control over internal management."

In many state...