I need your help. Which states can be governed by a simple majority? If the current US Senate rules are so great, you'd expect them to be replicated in lots of States right? And if any state does dare entrust its governance to the tyranny of the bi-cameral legislature, with their penchant for spending less on redistribution, well we should expect those states to be doing very poorly right, what with all the crazy laws and socialism they will have.
It turns out this is surprisingly hard to answer. The National Conference of State Legislatures produces items like this and this which highlight the complexity of this topic. I started out reading various State senate rules but states like California, with its two-thirds budget requirement mean that majority rule isn't as simple as the absence of a filibuster.
Inside I will try and lay out an approach to answer this.
So here's how I propose to group the states:
Majority rule: These are states which can pass most things with only a majority. Extraordinary items like impeachment or constitutional amendments can still require supermajorities, but no filibuster in either house, and no supermajorities for routine state business like tax increases or the budget.
Mixed: These states do not qualify as "majority rule" but are still distinctly more democratic than the US senate. Delaware is an example, as it requires three-fifths in the legislature to raise taxes, but otherwise can govern on majority rule.
Supermajority needed: These are the ones that are as bad or worse than the US Senate. States with supermajority budget requirements or filibusters fall here.
For some others, categorization is hard to do. Florida's Senate needs two-thirds to end debate. This seems worse than the US Senate, but it is two-thirds of Senators "present and voting" - whereas the US senate is three-fifths of Senators "chosen and sworn." However as that is not clearly better than the US Senate, I would group it with the supermajority states.
Mainly I am interested in states where the majority can get its way most of the time, so marginal cases between the latter two are not too big a deal. For grey area cases between majority and mixed, I will round down and group them as mixed.
I've made a start but frankly run out of steam, as each state's legislative rules are wildly different in format, style, and sometimes just not findable online. Even as I read the rules I am not sure I'm reading them right. Nebraska's rule 7-4 allows a majority to end debate, but rule 7-10 requires a two-thirds majority to invoke cloture. What does that mean in practice?
So help out. In the comments, if you're reasonably well acquainted with any state's legislative procedures, put the name of the state as the title of the comment, and suggest a category. The more detail the better. Feel free to challenge the ones I have already categorized. I didn't burden the chart with my notes on why each state landed where, but if necessary I can provide those notes. Find state legislatures here.
Majority Rule | Mixed | Supermajority | Uncategorized | Alaska | Arizona | Alabama | Kansas | Colorado | Delaware | Arkansas | Kentucky | Connecticut | Florida | California | Louisiana | Georgia | Hawaii | Idaho | Maine | Illinois | Nebraska | Rhode Island | Michigan | Indiana | | | Minnesota | Iowa | | | Mississippi | Maryland | | | Missouri | Massachusetts | | | Montana | New Jersey | | | Nevada | New York | | | New Hampshire | North Dakota | | | New Mexico | Virginia | | | North Carolina | Wyoming | | | Ohio | Wisconsin | | | Oklahoma | | | | Oregon | | | | Pennsylvania | | | | South Carolina | | | | South Dakota | | | | Tennessee | | | | Texas | | | | Utah | | | | Vermont | | | | Washington | | | | West Virginia | | | | Wisconsin |
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