The present representative system is the result of two conflicting forces. In most of the States some attention is paid to local govern mental areas. It is common for constitutional provisions to forbid the crossing of county boundaries in the establishment of representa tive areas. On the other hand, the principle of equal representation upon the basis of population has steadily developed. The more common plan today is to provide for the periodical reapportionment of membership in the two houses, upon the basis of population. Dela ware, however, permits a reapportionment only by constitutional change; and other States, while providing for periodical reapportion ment, limit the basis of representation in such a manner as to preserve an inequality. In California, New York and some other States repre sentation in one house is based on population and in the other in large part upon the counties as units, in an effort to balance urban and rural interests and to prevent domination of the legislature by a single large community.
Members of the State legislature are chosen from local districts by popular vote. Proportional representation has been proposed, but has not been adopted, for the choice of members of State legislatures, although its use in municipal elections has become common. All States adopt the plan under which a candidate is elected who receives a plurality of the votes in his district ; though Illinois since 187o has provided for three members of the lower house in each electoral district, and that each voter may vote for three or cumulate his votes for one or two candidates.
Under the first State Constitutions provision was generally made for the annual election of members of legislative bodies and for annual legislative sessions. Frequent and regular sessions of the legislature were deemed essential safeguards of popular rights, and were at this time thought sufficient safeguards. Most State legislative bodies now meet in January of odd years, and Constitutions ordinarily prescribe the number of days for which the session may continue. In Alabama the State legislature meets in regular session only once each four years.
As is the case with Congress, the work of State legislatures is largely done through committees. There is little of an effective legislative program or of organized leadership in the two houses. A number of States have in recent years sought to devise a more definite legislative policy through the creation of legislative councils, composed of repre sentatives of the two houses, such council to remain continuously in existence and to consider important matters of legislation with the aid of a permanent body of experts. An efficient and influential
governor occasionally exercises a distinct leadership in important matters of constructive legislation, but over legislative enactments in general his influence is negative rather than affirmative.
He now has a veto power over legislation in all of the States except North Carolina ; and the veto can, in most of the States, be overcome only by a two-thirds vote, although only a three-fifths vote is re quired in some States, and a bare majority in others. There has also been a definite increase of the governor's control over appropriations, through the vesting in him of a power to veto items in appropriation bills. Such a power now exists in all but ten of the States. There has been a tendency in some States to extend the governor's veto power still farther. The Washington and South Carolina Constitutions confer upon the governor the power to veto any item or section of a bill presented to him. In addition, several States have recently given the governor wide powers with respect to the State budget.
The veto power is not an idle weapon in the governor's hands. Its use and effectiveness depend upon several factors—the extent of the governor's constitutional power, the personality of the governor, and the political agreement or disagreement at the time between the governor and the two houses. Of some 16,50o measures passed in 1923 by the legislatures of forty-four States, more than eleven hundred were disapproved in their entirety, and more than one thousand parts of bills were disapproved. Of the bills disapproved, 104 were re-passed by legislatures, and of the parts vetoed only 4o were re-passed.