LEGISLATION COMPLEXITY AND LEGISLATOR PREFERENCES FOR SOURCES OF INFORMATION

The purpose of this study was to determine the association between legislation complexity and state legislator preferences for sources of pre-decision information. State legislator perceptions of the complexity of simulated education legislation reflecting varying content (internal) and context (environmental) characteristics were determined. State legislator preferences for sources of pre-decision information on education legislation of varying levels of complexity were identified. A self-developed instrument was used to survey a random sample (n = 748) of the population of all state legislators in the United States in 1982. The instrument was designed to determine: (1) the influence of content and context conditions on legislation complexity, (2) state legislator perceptions of education legislation complexity, and (3) state legislator preferences among three categories of sources of pre-decision information on legislation of varying complexity. Three hundred ninety usable survey responses were used to address or answer the sixteen research objectives and twelve research questions of the study. Percentage, chi-square, phi coefficient, and Cramer v values were the statistics used to meet the research objectives and answer the research questions of the study. The findings indicated that education legislation must be characterized by technical terminology, multiple and specialized subtopics, novelty, multiple and competing interests, substantial change, and high cost to be perceived by state legislators as more complex. State legislator preferences for sources of pre-decision information on education legislation were associated with the complexity of the legislation. External, legal, and broad sources were preferred by state legislators on education legislation they rated less complex. Internal, nonlegal, and broad sources were preferred by state legislators on education legislation they rated as more complex