Descriptive Representation and Latino Interest Bill Sponsorship in Congress*

Abstract

Objective. This article examines dynamics related to the sponsorship of Latino interest bills in Congress. I focus particularly on the influence of Latino representatives. Methods. I employ an original data set that includes all bills sponsored during the 109th Congress (2005)(2006) and use negative binomial and standard OLS regression techniques to test hypotheses that Latino representatives are more active sponsors of Latino interest bills than non-Latino representatives.Results. Findings demonstrate that both the size of Latino constituencies in congressional districts and descriptive representation significantly and positively predict Latino interest bill sponsorship. Descriptive representation appears particularly influential regarding sponsorship of bills that deal with Latino concerns explicitly. Conclusion. The analysis establishes that descriptive representation enhances the substantive representation of Latinos in bill sponsorship. An important aspect of this phenomenon is a legislative style on the part of Latino representatives that more openly, actively, and specifically embraces the interests of Latino constituencies in policy proposals. Do Latino representatives enhance the representation of Latino interests in Congress? Evidence that Latino representatives are more supportive of Latino interests than non-Latino representatives in their voting behaviors

Minority Chairs and Congressional Attention to Minority Issues: The Effect of Descriptive Representation in Positions of Institutional Power

“…Research examines whether descriptive representation affects responsiveness to minority interests in numerous behaviors, including roll call voting (Hero and Tolbert, ; Kerr and Miller, ; Canon, ; Tate, ; Knoll, ), bill sponsorship and co‐sponsorship (Canon, ; Bratton, ; Wilson, ), communication patterns (Canon, ; Wilson, ), committee participation (Gamble, ; Minta, ), district activities (Swain, ; Canon, ; Fenno, ), and other behaviors. Limited controversy withstanding, mostly in research on Latino representation, the consensus emerging from this literature is that descriptive representation enhances support for the interests of minority groups.…”

Political representation of racial minorities in the parliament of Singapore

“…In his research on race and the representational behavior in the US House of Representatives, Canon (1999) finds that African-American legislators from black majority districts were more likely than white legislators to introduce black interest bills. Additionally, Wilson's (2010) study of the 109th US Congress (2005)(2006) shows that Latino representatives were more likely to promote Latino interests in Congress, as Latino representatives more actively sponsored Latino interest bills than non-Latino representatives.…”

Exploring Responsiveness in the U.S. House of Representatives

“…Bill sponsorship, specifically, is an active outlet of legislative behavior open to all legislators providing the opportunity to introduce a bill on any topic during the course of a single legislative session (Wawro 2001). While bill sponsorship is valuable to address the responsiveness of legislators to their constituents' preferences, past approaches analyzing bill sponsorship have often focused on agenda setting (Schiller 1995;Burstein, Bauldry, and Froese 2005;Rocca and Gordon 2010;Woon 2008), or on sub-group behavior in the legislative process (Barnello and Bratton 2007;Rocca and Sanchez 2008;Whitby 2002;Wilson 2010). And at the state level, Gamm and Kousser (2010) leveraged bill sponsorship to explore variance in district homogeneity as it relates to the targeted versus broad nature of bills.…”