SOA Symposium 2025
"Legislators and Academics in Collaboration"
June 26, 2025
On Zoom!
Like our previous symposia, we asked scholars to submit working papers on state legislative oversight and related topics to be read and reviewed by practitioners. We also had a roundtable discussion focused on overcoming barriers and leveraging opportunities for collaboration between scholars and practitioners.
We recognized our 2025 Oversight Leader at the symposium. The SOA Oversight Leaders designation recognizes individual state legislators and committees whose work contributes to the practice of high-quality oversight and stands as an example for others to follow.
Speakers and Papers
How Are Minority Staffers Utilized? Evidence from the California State Assembly
Author:
Michelangelo Landgrave
Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Colorado Boulder
Abstract: Legislative staffers are among legislators’ most valuable assets and their appointment by legislators is strategic. Past research has focused on how legislative staffer appointments help legislators meet policy or constituency service goals. In this article I advance the literature by theorizing how minority staffers are utilized. I hypothesize, and show using novel data from the California State Assembly, that state legislators disproportionally place Hispanic and Asian American Pacific Islander staffers in constituency service positions. This may be done as an effort to provide a form of surrogate descriptive representation. Concerningly, because minority staffers are more likely to be placed in constituency service positions, minority staffers are less likely to be placed in policy orientated positions where they might have the most influence over substantive policymaking. This leads to a situation where minority staffers are placed in visible constituency service appointments but continue to be underrepresented in key policy appointments.
Reviewed by:
Ken Cooley
Former California State Assemblymember
Michelangelo Landgrave (he/him/él) is an Assistant Professor of Political Science at the University of Colorado Boulder. At CU he serves as the Director of the Barney Ford Lab for Civic Thought and Engagement.
He is a member of the Evidence in Governance and Politics (EGAP) research network and co-organizes the Mid-American Conference for Race, Gender, Immigration, and Ethnicity Politics (MARGIE).
Dr. Landgrave has previously held research appointments at Princeton University (Postdoc Fellow), the U.S. Federal Government’s Office of Evaluation Sciences (Associate Fellow), and the University of Missouri (Postdoc Fellow & Assistant Professor). He earned his PhD in Political Science from the University of California, Riverside, and a Master’s degree in Economics from California State University, Long Beach.
He has published 20+ peer reviewed research articles in Political Analysis, Legislative Studies Quarterly, the Journal of Experimental Political Science, State Politics & Policy Quarterly, American Politics Research, Politics, Groups & Identities, PS: Political Science & Politics, the California Journal of Politics & Policy, Political Studies Review, the Journal of Political Science Education, the Journal of Behavioral Public Administration, the Journal of Social Equity & Public Administration, the Journal of Economics, Race, & Policy, and the Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization among others.
His research has been widely cited in popular media, including John Oliver’s Last Week Tonight.
He can be reached at michelangelo.landgrave@colorado.edu. Follow him on Bluesky.
Ken Cooley was elected to the California State Assembly in November 2012 after 10 years as a founding Councilmember and two-term mayor (2005 and 2010) of Rancho Cordova, a job center city of 82,000 immediately east of California’s capitol city.
In the five years after his city’s 2003 founding, Ken was active in the League of California Cities, which is California’s municipal league, and by 2008 had become its statewide 1st Vice President.
During his Assembly career, Ken distinguished himself as a collaborative leader leading the development of the California Assembly’s Oversight Handbook, which is available on the California State Assembly website at 2017 Oversight Handbook | California State Assembly .
Keynote Speakers
Megan Rickman Blackwood
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Megan and Rep. Orentlicher connected at last year’s SOA symposium and decided to work together on a proactive oversight study in his district! Laura Austin is assisting with implementation efforts.
Megan Rickman Blackwood, M.A, is a Ph.D. Student at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. Prior to returning to pursue her Ph.D. Megan served as a legislative director for State Sen. Mamie E. Locke, Ph.D., in the Virginia State Senate. During this time of service, Megan was inspired to center her research agenda on creating knowledge to inform equitable policy making and representation decisions at the State Level. Megan centers her work on discovering ways for representatives to bridge access-gaps and presents data-driven strategies for creating a more inclusive government.
Nevada State Assemblymember David Orentlicher is the Judge Jack and Lulu Lehman Professor at University of Nevada Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law and director of the UNLV Health Law Program. Widely recognized for his expertise in health law and constitutional law, Dr. Orentlicher has testified before Congress, had his scholarship cited by the U.S. Supreme Court, and has served on national, state, and local commissions. He is a graduate of Harvard Medical School and Harvard Law school and – we’re not even to the best part yet — Dr. Orentlicher is serving his third term in the Nevada Assembly, and from 2002-2008, he served three terms in the Indiana House of Representatives. He also has served as a health policy adviser to the presidential campaigns of Barack Obama and Joe Biden.
Laura Austin is an educator with over 40 years of PreK – Grade 12 public school experience. She has served as an elementary and secondary classroom teacher, PreK – 5th grade school principal, school district Title III Director, and, most recently, teacher development consultant for the Nevada Department of Education. Her teaching, administrative, and teacher development experiences have focused largely around high educational achievement for culturally and linguistically diverse students. Laura received a B.A. in English from Mills College and holds M.Ed. and Ed.D. degrees in Educational Leadership from the University of Nevada, Reno. She was born and raised in Los Angeles, California and lives in Minden, Nevada. The perfect day for her is hiking in the Sierra Nevada mountains near her home to catch a sweeping view of Lake Tahoe.
David Orentlicher
Nevada State Assemblymember, Professor of Law at University of Nevada Las Vegas William S. Boyd School of Law
Laura Austin
Teacher Development Consultant, Nevada Department of Education
Oversight Leaders
Texas State Representative Joe Moody (D) and Representative Jeff Leach (R)
In late 2024, Representatives Joe Moody and Jeff Leach demonstrated exemplary bipartisan oversight through their leadership on the Texas House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence. They spearheaded a critical inquiry into the application of Texas’s 2013 “junk science” law—a statute intended to provide legal redress for individuals convicted based on outdated or discredited scientific evidence.
Just one day before Robert Roberson was scheduled to be executed for the 2002 death of his two-year-old daughter, the committee issued a unanimous legislative subpoena to hear directly from Roberson, whose conviction hinged on the controversial shaken baby syndrome diagnosis. The lawmakers sought to understand why the junk science law had failed in his case, even as other similar cases were being re-evaluated and retried.
Their bipartisan effort reflected a commitment to both justice and legislative accountability. With over 85 Texas legislators from both parties urging clemency for Roberson, the work of Reps. Moody and Leach stands out as a model for how legislative oversight can uncover systemic failures and advocate for due process, even under the most time-sensitive and politically charged circumstances.
Representatives Moody and Leach led a bipartisan effort to secure critical testimony from a death row inmate, shining a spotlight on implementation gaps in Texas’s junk science law. They facilitated a fact-based, nonpartisan examination of how scientific evidence is used in criminal convictions and worked collaboratively across party lines to uphold legislative intent and protect due process. Their leadership in this high-stakes oversight endeavor exemplifies how principled, bipartisan action can safeguard justice and reinforce public confidence in government.
People-Centered Oversight - Report Release and Discussion
David Kirchner
Evaluation Coordinator, Minnesota Office of the Legislative Auditor
David Kirchner is an evaluation coordinator in his 19th year with Minnesota’s Office of the Legislative Auditor (OLA). His work typically involves leading a team during a months-long deep dive into a topic chosen by a bipartisan legislative committee, culminating in the release of a detailed report with recommendations for agencies and the Legislature. In the past decade, he has led evaluations on such diverse topics as home down payment assistance, light rail construction, ambulance services, child protection, prison security, K-12 standardized testing, highway spending priorities, and economic development incentives. Before joining OLA, Kirchner earned a Ph.D. in political science from Washington University, St. Louis, and taught American politics and public policy at two midwestern liberal arts colleges.
See keynote speaker section above for Megan Rickman Blackwood‘s biography.
Megan Rickman Blackwood
PhD Candidate, Department of Political Science, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Roundtable Discussion
Practitioners
Regina Birchum
Executive Director, Oklahoma Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT)
In 2020, Regina Birchum helped to establish the Legislative Office of Fiscal Transparency (LOFT) as the Deputy Director. In February of 2025, Ms. Birchum was appointed Executive Director of the Office. Prior to joining LOFT, she successfully led the effort to launch the Oklahoma City campus of the nationally renowned Cristo Rey Network of high schools, eventually leading its corporate partnership program. Prior to this, Birchum spent 15 years at the State Capitol in numerous roles involving public policy and communications, including serving five years as the Deputy Treasurer for Policy and Chief of Staff to the State Treasurer. While with the Treasury, she helped create a new publication for enhanced reporting of state financial data, was a member of a national policy working group to examine business incentives and assisted with putting the state’s checkbook online. During her prior 10 years working for the Oklahoma House of Representatives, she coordinated House Leadership’s policy initiative on government modernization. Birchum holds a B.A. in Mass Communication from Texas State University and has completed the Executive Leadership Development Program from the Stayer Center for Executive Education at the University of Notre Dame. She also holds a certificate in public policy from Penn Wharton.
James H. (Jim) Townsend, a former member of the Michigan legislature, was named director of the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy in November 2019. Previously, Townsend practiced law in the Detroit office of Butzel as a member of its Corporate and Real Estate Practice Group. Prior to joining the firm, he represented the 26th District in the Michigan House of Representatives. He serves on the Michigan Economic Development Corporation’s advisory council of the Redevelopment Ready Communities® program.
Before his career in law, Townsend was legislative director in the office of U.S. Representative Nita M. Lowey and worked for U.S. Sen. Frank R. Lautenberg. Townsend’s private sector experience includes working as a brand manager at Ford Motor Company, founding and directing the Michigan Suburbs Alliance, and leading economic development at the Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau.
Townsend graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, with Highest Honors in History, earned an M.B.A. and Master of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, and earned his J.D. (cum laude) at Wayne Law where he was elected to the Order of the Coif.
Jim Townsend
Director of the Levin Center for Oversight and Democracy, former Michigan State Representative
Scholars
Michelangelo Landgrave
Assistant Professor of Political Science, University of Colorado Boulder
Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson is a Professor of Political Science at Wayne State University. Her research focuses on state legislative term limits and legislative oversight of the executive branch. She was the principal investigator on a major study of term limits in Michigan that involved interviews with 460 state legislators over 10 years as Michigan implemented a state term limits ballot initiative. She participated in two studies of legislative oversight of the executive branch in collaboration with the Levin Center at Wayne State University’s Law School–a 50 state study of oversight and a study of contract monitoring in selected states.
See paper section above for Michelangelo Landgrave‘s biography.
Dr. Marjorie Sarbaugh-Thompson
Professor, Department of Political Science, Wayne State University, SOA Academic Director
