The annual meeting of the Legislative Studies Section was held in Boston during the national convention of the American Political Science Association. The LSS meeting was convened on Friday, at 5:35 p.m. by Chair Wayne Francis of the University of Florida.

The session began with the presentation of two awards, the Congressional Quarterly Press Award for the best paper in legislative studies, and the Richard F. Fenno Jr. Award for the best book on legislative politics.

The CQ Press award went to Eric Lawrence, for his 1997 APSA paper entitled "The Publication of Hinds' Precedents in 1899 and the Institutionalization of the House of Representatives." On behalf of his fellow committee members, Evelyn Fink, University of Nebraska, and Paul Herrnson, University of Maryland, Gary Cox, University of California at San Diego, made the presentation to Professor Lawrence. In his remarks, Professor Cox pointed out how Lawrence's paper highlighted the importance of open and public agreement about the rules that govern an institution.

The Fenno prize was awarded to David C. King, of Harvard University for his book, Turf Wars: How Congressional Committees Claim Jurisdiction, published by the University of Chicago Press. Professor Terry Sullivan, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, made the presentation to Professor King on behalf of the members of the committee, Rick Hall, University of Michigan, Jeffrey Talbert, the University of Kentucky at Lexington, and Garry Young, the University of Missouri at Columbia. In his remarks, Professor Sullivan noted that King's work provides a new approach to the study of evolving committee jurisdictions and in doing so, offers a broader theoretical explanation of changes in legislative institutions.

After the presentations, the minutes of the 1997 LSS business meeting were approved as printed in the January 1998 issue of the LSS newsletter.

LSS Chair Wayne Francis brought up several issues. First, he and Ron Peters, Director of the Carl Albert Center and the current editor the LSS newsletter, proposed shortening the printed version of the newsletter by moving the journal scan and the description of the conference proceedings to the LSS homepage on the world wide web.

At this point, the Chair asked for and received approval for the changes in the newsletter format. He also thanked Ron Peters and the members of the Carl Albert Center for doing a great job on the newsletter.

The second issue that the Chair raised concerned the availability of papers at conferences, which was first noted by Stan Bach. In response to this concern, the Chair noted that APSA is putting all conference papers on line so this problem of availability of papers will probably work itself out.

The third matter concerned the possibility of having the annual APSA membership renewal and solicitation form include the Legislative Studies Quarterly journal subscription as an additional option next to the section listing for the Legislative Studies Section. A discussion of the pros and cons and possible arrangements ensued. The Chair indicated that further discussions with LSQ and APSA personnel would be held.

The Chair made several appointments:

- CQ Prize committee for best paper in legislative studies: Eric Lawrence (chair), University of California at Riverside; James King, University of Wyoming; Valarie Sulfaro, James Madison University.

- Fenno Prize Committee: David King (chair), Harvard University; Jon Bond, Texas A & M University; Jim Garand, Louisiana State University.

- Carl Albert Center Prize Committee for the best dissertation in legislative studies: Michael Mezey (chair), DePaul University; Gary Moncrief, Boise State University; David Canon, University of Wisconsin at Madison.

1998 Treasurer's Report - Wendy Schiller reported that we have 614 members and we are currently operating within budget.

1998 APSA LSS Program Chair's Report - C. Lawrence Evans reported that we had 22 panels this year, including 6 cosponsored panels with other sections. We had 212 paper proposals and 85 were accepted on a LSS panel for an acceptance rate of 40 percent. He also thanked everyone who agreed to be a discussant or a chair. The LSS group then thanked Larry for a job well done.

1999 APSA LSS Program Chair's Report - Peverill Squire encouraged everyone to submit proposals for the meetings.
 

The meeting adjourned at 6:20 p.m.
 

Respectfully submitted,

Wendy J. Schiller
Brown University
Secretary-Treasurer
Legislative Studies Section
American Political Science Association

The Richard F. Fenno Prize

~ best book in legislative studies published in 1998 ~
 

In the tradition of Professor Fenno's work, this prize is designed to honor work that is both theoretically and empirically strong. Moreover, this prize is dedicated to encouraging scholars to pursue new and different avenues of research in order to find answers to previously unexplored questions about the nature of politics. Nominations must have a 1998 copyright date. Deadline for submission is March 1, 1999.

The committee for this year:

• David C. King (Chair), Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University, 79 JFK Street, Cambridge, MA 02138. Telephone: (617) 495-1665. Email: davidk@ksg1.harvard.edu.
• Jon R. Bond, Dept. of Political Science, Texas A&M University, College Station, TX 77843-4348. Email: jonbond@polisci.tamu.edu.
• James C. Garand, Dept. of Political Science, Louisiana State University, Baton Rouge, LA 70803-5433. Telephone: (504) 388-2547. Email: pogara@lsuvm.sncc.lsu.edu.

~ best paper on legislative studies that was presented at the 1998 annual meeting of APSA ~
 

The committee for this year:

• Eric Lawrence (Chair), Dept. of Political Science, Tulane University, New Orleans, LA 70118. Email: elawrence@mailhost.tcs.tulane.edu.
• James D. King, Dept. of Political Science, University of Wyoming, Laramie, WY 82071. Email: jking@uwyo.edu.
• Valarie Sulfaro, Dept. of Political Science, James Madison University, Harrisonburg, VA 22807. Email: sulfarva@jmu.edu.

 

~ best doctoral dissertation in the area of legislative studies ~
 

Topics may be national or subnational in focus--on Congress, parliaments, state legislatures, or other representative bodies. Dissertations with 1997 or 1998 copyright dates are eligible. The deadline for submission is May 1, 1999.

Terms for submitting a dissertation:

1. One copy sent to each member of the committee;

2. No more than one submission per Ph.D. granting department;

3. A letter from the department chair indicating the selection;

4. A letter from the dissertation chair, or other appropriate committee member, describing the significance of the work.

The committee for this year:

• Michael Mezey (Chair), Dept. of Political Science, Depaul University, 2323 North Seminary Ave., Chicago IL 60614;
• David Canon, Dept. of Political Science, University of Wisconsin, 1050 Bascom Hall, Madison, WI 53706;

Gary Moncrief, Dept. of Political Science, Boise State University, Boise, ID 83725.