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Codebook (WordPerfect format): reprcb.wpd
Codebook (Word 6.0 format): reprcb.doc
SPSS portable file: reprsp.por

DISTRICT DATA

URBAN	Percent living inside urbanized areas
EURAMER	Percent European American
AFRAMER	Percent African American
ASNAMER	Percent Asian American/Pacific Islander
NATAMER	Percent Native American
LATINO	Percent Latino
LT18	Percent under 18 years old
GE65	Percent 65 years old and older
MARRIED	Percent of households with married couple
MARCHLD	Percent of households with married couple and children under 18
HIGHSCH	Percent of persons 25 or older who are at least high school graduates
COLLEGE	Percent of persons 25 or older who are at least college graduates
PRCAPINC	Per capita income
POVERTY	Percent of persons living below poverty
OWNOCC	Percent of occupied houses that are owner-occupied
REGISTER	Democratic party registration as percent of two-party registration, October 1996
LEGVOTE	Democratic percent of two-party vote in legislative races. For assembly districts and odd-numbered senate districts: November, 1996; for even-numbered senate districts, November 1994. Note this variable should be used with caution in analyzing the Senate, since the political environment in 1996 was quite different from what it had been two years earlier. Also, in the 8th SD, neither the Democratic nor Republican candidate was successful - the race was won by an independent, Quentin Kopp. His votes are not included in the data.
PROP209	Percent Voting Yes on Proposition 209, the California Civil Rights Initiative, eliminating a number of affirmative action programs, November 1996 (Passed)
PROP210	Percent Voting Yes on Proposition 210, increasing the minimum wage, November 1996 (Passed)
PROP215	Percent Voting Yes on Proposition 215, permitting the medical use of marijuana, November 1996 (Passed)
PROP217	Percent Voting Yes on Proposition 217, reinstating higher tax rates on upper income taxpayers, November 1996 (Failed)
PROP218	Percent Voting Yes on Proposition 218, making it harder for local governments to raise taxes, November 1996 (Passed)
DISTLIB	Composite district liberalism (100 = most liberal; 0 = most conservative) To create this variable, the first component was extracted from a principal components factor analysis (carried out separately for the Assembly and the Senate) of the results for the five statewide propositions included in the study. To convert this score to a scale that would range from 0 to 100, the following formula was used:  DISTLIB =100* (FACTOR - C1)/C2, where: FACTOR = the district's principal component score, C1 = the minimum FACTOR score among all districts in the Assembly or Senate, and C2 = -C1 + the maximum FACTOR score.

MEMBER DATA

NAME	Member's Surname
PARTY	Member's Party 1 -- Democrat 2 -- Republican 3 -- Independent
TERMLIM	Year Member Reaches Term Limit
YEARBORN	Year Member Born
GENDER	Member's Gender 1 -- Male 2 -- Female
ETHNIC	Member's Ethnicity 1 -- European American 2 -- African American 3 -- Latino 4 -- Asian American 5 -- Native American
CHAIR	Standing Committee Chair 0 -- No 1 -- Yes
VCHAIR	Standing Committee Vice-Chair 0 -- No 1 -- Yes
ROLLCALL	Composite Roll Call Voting Score, 1997 (100 = most conservative; 0 = most liberal). To create this variable, the first component was extracted from a principal components factor analysis (carried out separately for the Assembly and the Senate) of the ratings of several interest groups. To convert this score to a scale that would range from 0 to 100, the following formula was used:  ROLLCALL =100* (FACTOR - C1)/C2, where: FACTOR = the member's principal component score, C1 = the minimum FACTOR score in the chamber, and C2 = -C1 + the maximum FACTOR score. Senators Craven and Dills and Assemblyman Caldera are not included because they missed a number of votes and were not rated by several of the groups.  The following groups ratings were used: the California Chamber of Commerce, Gun Owners of California, the California Taxpayers' Association, the California League of Conservation Voters, the California Public Interest Research Group (CALPIRG). Scores were as listed by each organization except as follows: CALPIRG did not rate Senator Ayala because he missed too many roll calls. Since all other groups rated him, we calculated his CALPIRG score based on the record he did have. The California Chamber of Commerce scores individual votes, but does not provide an overall rating. We computed ratings as the percent of votes or abstentions or absences favoring the Chamber's position. Excused absences were not included in the calculations.

Sources:

Social, economic, and demographic characteristics of district: 1990 census.

Registration data: Secretary of State, Report of Registration (October 1996).

District voting data: Secretary of State, Statement of Vote (November 1996). For votes on propositions, data appear to be incorrect for some senate districts, and to not total correctly to statewide results. For this reason, data from assembly districts were aggregated to the senate district level.

Year of birth and term limit status, and committee chairs and vice chairs: A.G. Block and Claudia Buck, California Politics Almanac 1997-1998 (Sacramento: State Net, 1997). Note: The Almanac contained several omissions in its listing of chairs and vice-chairs. The missing information was obtained from the web pages of the assembly (http://www.assembly.ca.gov/) and the senate (http://www.senate.ca.gov/) on March 1, 1998. According to these sources, Ayala is vice-chair of the Senate Agriculture and Water Resources Committee, Greene is vice-chair of the Senate Legislative Ethics Committee, Johannessen is chair of the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee, and Miller is vice-chair of the Assembly Budget Committee.

Roll call voting scores were obtained from the interest groups making the ratings.

© The Authors, 1998
Last Modified 22 July 1998