INTEREST GROUP ACTIVITY IN THE STATES

This paper utilizes a survey of 595 state lobbyists and 301 state orga nizations to address four questions about interest group activity in t he states: (1) What techniques do groups in the states use? (?) How mu ch do groups in the states do? (3) How do techniques differ across gro up types? (4) What types of groups are most active in the states? The data suggest that techniques do not differ much across group types; th at, contrary to the subgovernment model, very few groups and lobbyists exhibit specialization between or within branches of state government ; and that most groups take an interest in a large number of policy pr oposals. However, it appears that groups, though they monitor a large number of policy proposals, are inactive advocates on the vast majorit y of bills before the state legislature. Ironically, we believe that o ne result of all this group activity may be a tilting of the locus of power in state politics toward elected and appointed officials and awa y from interest groups.