Legal Definitions - logrolling

Logrolling refers to a practice, primarily in politics and legislation, where individuals or groups exchange support for each other's proposals or combine unrelated proposals into a single package to ensure their collective passage.

This term encompasses two main scenarios:

• Trading Votes: This involves legislators or political factions agreeing to vote for each other's bills, amendments, or initiatives. For example, Legislator A agrees to support Legislator B's bill benefiting Legislator B's district, in exchange for Legislator B supporting Legislator A's bill benefiting Legislator A's district. The goal is to secure enough votes for measures that might otherwise fail.

• Bundling Propositions: This occurs when multiple distinct proposals, which might not individually gain enough support, are combined into one larger bill or ballot initiative. The hope is that the appeal of some popular proposals will carry the less popular ones to passage. Many state constitutions have "single-subject clauses" specifically designed to prevent this practice, requiring that a bill address only one main topic.

Here are some examples illustrating logrolling:

• Example 1 (Legislative Vote Trading): A senator from a state with a large manufacturing base is pushing for a bill that would provide tax incentives for domestic factories. Simultaneously, a senator from a state heavily reliant on tourism is advocating for a bill to fund national park improvements. Neither bill has enough independent support to pass. Through logrolling, the manufacturing senator agrees to vote for the national park bill, and in return, the tourism senator pledges support for the manufacturing tax incentive bill. Both bills then pass with this mutual exchange of votes.

  Explanation: This demonstrates logrolling as the direct exchange of votes between legislators, where each supports the other's unrelated legislative priority to ensure both measures succeed.

• Example 2 (Bundling in a Ballot Initiative): In a statewide election, a citizens' group wants to pass a popular measure to increase teacher salaries. They also want to pass a less popular measure that would raise property taxes to fund a new municipal arts center. Knowing the arts center funding might fail on its own, they combine both proposals into a single ballot question titled "The Education and Community Enrichment Act." Voters must approve or reject the entire package, meaning they cannot vote for higher teacher salaries without also voting for the arts center funding.

  Explanation: This illustrates logrolling as the practice of bundling a popular proposal (teacher salaries) with a less popular one (arts center funding) into a single measure. The intent is that the overall appeal of the combined package will lead to the passage of both, even if one component might have failed if presented separately.

• Example 3 (Committee-Level Support Trading): Within a legislative committee, a representative from an urban district is advocating for a bill to expand public transportation services. A representative from a rural district on the same committee is pushing for a bill to subsidize broadband internet access in underserved areas. Both bills are struggling to get enough votes to be recommended out of committee. The urban representative agrees to co-sponsor and actively lobby for the rural broadband bill, provided the rural representative does the same for the public transportation bill. With their combined efforts and votes, both bills successfully move out of committee.

  Explanation: This example shows logrolling occurring at a committee level, where representatives from different constituencies trade support for their respective priorities to advance their legislative goals through the committee process.