A formula for success: Determinants of the policy effectiveness of disability groups in the public arena

This study examines the factors that contribute to the success of interest groups focused on physical disability in getting what they want written into a bill and thus placed on the legislative agenda. Identification of the actual study groups is made via legislative hearing records from the period 1983-1989. An analysis of hearing testimony in the House of Representatives' Committee on Education and Labor is made to determine the specific positions identified groups were advocating and the degree to which the positions were reflected in the bill being considered, i.e., the degree of legislative success--the dependent variable. Independent variables believed to influence that success include various characteristics of the group and its members and constituents, the group's congressional testimony, the legislators involved in hearings where such testimony was presented, and the hearing itself. Information about both the dependent and independent variables comes from a variety of sources including interviews, legislative calendars, printed hearing documents, bill texts, public tax records, reference volumes, and other secondary materials. The collected data are analyzed using ordinal-level descriptive statistics and logistic regression techniques. Results of these analyses provide evidence on the relative importance or unimportance of what a group actually does on its own behalf. Study findings indicate that the resources a group commands and the actions it takes may not be as important as originally hypothesized here or traditionally thought in social science literature. The particular emphasis given here to groups concerned with disability is one currently absent from existing interest group literature, and this study is an attempt to fill that void.