Taking on the World: The International Activities of American State Legislatures

State legislatures in the United States engage in a substantial amount of international activity. In the 2001-2002 legislative sessions, some 886 bills and resolutions with significant international implications were introduced. Approximately 306 of these were adopted. This level of international activity has increased substantially since 1991, and the substantive focus has changed over time. In addition, about half of all state legislatures received at least one foreign delegation and sent at least one delegation of members abroad in the last session. As in most areas of state policy, there is considerable interstate variation in legislatures' international activities. Some states had virtually no international legislative activity, whereas others were very active. The principal factors explaining this variation were the degree of state involvement in the international economy, as measured by the level of state exports, and party control of the legislature. Copyright 2004, Oxford University Press.