How much time do legislators spend on legislative work?
An NCSL survey offers some answers.
NCSL categorizes 10 of the 50 state legislatures as full time. Yet over half of the 700 legislators who completed the 2022 survey consider themselves full-time legislators. Moreover, survey respondents on average reported their legislative work comprises 74% of the time and workload of a full-time job. This finding reinforces what NCSL members know firsthand: Legislative service requires a substantial, and potentially growing, time commitment.
NCSL developed its legislature typology—which classifies legislatures as part time, full time or hybrid—based on a survey from the early 2000s. Responses from that study indicated that serving in full-time legislatures equates to 80% or more of a full-time job; serving in hybrid legislatures is 66% of a full-time job; and serving in part-time legislatures is about 50% of a full-time job. But the most recent survey suggests that legislators are spending more time on legislative work than they were 20 years ago.
Respondents serving in hybrid legislatures reported spending 80% of a full-time job on legislative business, a 14% increase from the initial typography definition. Legislators serving in part-time institutions spent less time on legislative work than their full-time or hybrid counterparts, but they still indicated legislative work was more than 50% of a full-time job. “It is certainly not a part-time position in the same kind of way that it sounds like it is,” says Utah Sen. Ann Millner, who was interviewed for the survey case study.
Survey Results: Legislative Work as a Percentage of a Full-Time Job
Type of Legislature / Percentage of a Full-Time Job
- Full-Time / 95%
- Full-Time Lite / 82%
- Hybrid / 80%
- Part-Time Lite / 63%
- Part Time / 53%
Percentages rounded to whole numbers.
The increasing workload means legislators not only spend more time legislating, but also have less time for non-legislative jobs, particularly for those in part-time and hybrid legislatures. Because these legislatures have shorter sessions and offer lower legislator pay, many legislators maintain careers outside the capitol. In fact, more than half of survey respondents held jobs outside the legislature, and on average, their outside employment made up 56% of a full-time job.
Utah Senate President Pro Tempore and NCSL President Wayne Harper spoke to the difficulty of balancing a non-legislative career with legislative work. “You’ve made a commitment to your employer, and you need to honor that and give a full day’s work. But at the same time, constituent issues don’t always wait,” he says. The survey data backs him up: 80% of respondents reported that legislative service meant doing less outside work or leaving non-legislative work altogether.
Despite the added work, legislators see benefits to having a job outside the legislature. Washington Rep. Cindy Ryu, chair of the Technology, Economic Development and Veterans Committee, says there is a benefit to having an outside job. “It kind of roots you,” she says, “and reminds you what the real world looks like out there.”
For more on the survey, including data visualizations, see the report State Legislators at Work: Insights Into Legislator Time and Demographics.
Emily Ronco is a policy specialist in NCSL’s Center for Legislative Strengthening.