The Devil Is in the Details : Understanding the Causes of Policy Specificity and Ambiguity.

Intro -- The Devil is in the Details: Understanding the Causes of Policy Specificity and Ambiguity -- Contents -- List of Figures and Tables -- Acknowledgments -- Chapter 1: Introduction: The Political Story of Policy Precision -- Fragmentation and Ambiguity -- The Language of Law -- Social Policy in the States -- Overview of the Book -- Chapter 2: The Puzzle of Statute Specificity -- Fragmentation and Ambiguity in the Judicial Context -- Fragmentation and Ambiguity in the Bureaucratic Context -- Bureaucracy Research in the States -- A Conditional Theory of Statute Specificity -- Salience in the Conditional Model -- Assessing Specificity and Salience -- Sources of Fragmentation -- Party Control and Polarization -- Interest Group Density and Diversity -- Gubernatorial Powers -- Speaker's Power -- Capacity Variables: Legislative and Bureaucratic Professionalization and Term Limits -- Summary of Hypotheses -- Chapter 3: Perspectives of Policy-Making Elites -- Methodology -- Overcoming Fragmentation: Compromise through Ambiguity -- The Role of Committees -- Interest Groups and Stakeholders -- Partisan Conflict -- The Role of the Executive -- Alternatives for Overcoming Fragmentation: Compromise through Specificity -- The Role of Interest Groups Revisited -- Fragmentation and Protecting the Status Quo -- Committee Pressure for More Specificity -- Specificity and Negotiations with the Executive Branch -- Resources and Procedural Factors: Term limits, Turnover, and Time Constraints -- How Salience Shapes Strategy: Articulating the Conditional Model -- Something Old and Something New -- Conclusion -- Chapter 4: Policy Specificity in a High-Salience Context: Mental Health Parity -- Mental Health Insurance -- Specificity in State Mental Health Parity Statutes -- Political and Institutional Fragmentation -- Findings.

Chapter 5: Policy Specificity in a Low-Salience Context: Individual Development Accounts -- Individual Development Accounts -- Assessing Specificity in IDA Bills -- Sources of Fragmentation (Independent Variables) -- Findings -- Evidence for the Conditional Model of Fragmentation -- Chapter 6: Fragmentation and Policy Specificity in California Legislation -- The California Policy-Making Environment -- Institutional Conditions -- Political Conditions -- Bill-Specific Variables -- California Social Policy -- Health Policy -- Welfare Policy -- Methodology -- Measurement of the Dependent Variable: Recalibrating Statute Specificity -- Hypotheses -- Findings -- Descriptive Findings -- Multivariate Analyses -- The Conditional Effects of Salience -- Conclusion -- Chapter 7: Conclusion -- Review of Findings -- Normative Implications -- Directions for Future Research -- Conclusion -- Appendix A: Coding Scheme for Mental Health Parity (Chapter 4) -- Directions for Coders -- Combination Scores -- Indices of Specificity -- Appendix B: Coding Scheme for Individual Development Accounts (Chapter 5) -- Directions for Coders -- Combination Scores -- Indices of Specificity -- Appendix C: Coding Scheme for California Bills (Chapter 6) -- Directions for Coders -- Scoring Specificity -- Combination Scores -- Appendix D: California Bills by Code Section -- Scores Standardized 0-1 -- Welfare and institutions -- Business and professions -- Health and safety -- Appendix E: Split Salience Models (Chapter 6) -- Appendix F: Interview Protocol (Chapter 3) -- Appendix G: Bills Considered -- Notes -- Chapter 1. Introduction: The Political Story of Policy Precision -- Chapter 2. The Puzzle of Statute Specificity -- Chapter 3. Perspectives of Policy-Making Elites -- Chapter 4. Policy Specificity in a High-Salience Context: Mental Health Parity.

Chapter 5. Policy Specificity in a Low-Salience Context: Individual Development Accounts -- Chapter 6. Fragmentation and Policy Specificity in California Legislation -- Conclusion -- References -- Index.

Seeks to explain the causes of ambiguously worded state legislation.

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Electronic reproduction. Ann Arbor, Michigan : ProQuest Ebook Central, 2024. Available via World Wide Web. Access may be limited to ProQuest Ebook Central affiliated libraries.