TEXT OF COMMITTEE STAFF SURVEY

Scheduling: How many times a week does your committee meet, and for approximately how long? About how many bills are heard at each meeting? Does your committee meet over the interim?

Committee composition: In your view, has there been any systematic change in the extent to which committees mirror the partisan and ideological composition of the house? Does the committee membership ever change over the course of a session in your state, and have you noticed a change in the frequency of this practice since term limits?

Committee procedures: In what ways has the operation of committees changed since the implementation of term limits? Have staffing levels increased, or has the way in which staff members present their analyses been altered? Have the chair's prerogatives remained the same? Has there been any change in the use of conference committees in response to term limits?

Committee behavior: How frequently are bills amended in your committee, and have term limits altered the number or complexity of amendments? When bills heard by your committee reach the floor, are the committee's recommendations or amendments approved by the committee ever overruled? Have term limits seemed to have any effect on how much deference the floor grants to the committee that you staff?