The Legislative Decision-Making Process

Extract

The Legislative Decision Making Process is an educational role play for graduate or undergraduate students concerning the political and pressure relationships involved in the political decision-making process. The role play reviews the implications of the decision-making processes upon the provision of services by governmental agencies.

The role play engages from twenty to sixty students in a simulated budget-making and lobbying experience and utilizes this experience to teach students:

1. 1. The values and pressures considered by bureaucracies and the Legislature in decision-making;

2. 2. The relationships which exist between clients, community groups, administrators and politicians;

3. 3. The various techniques of Community Organization for lobbying and Legislative influence.

The role play consists of various groups of students in roles which include legislators, administrators of three major state departments, two minor state departments, parent groups, Concerned Citizen groups, American Indians disabled individuals and ex-clients.