Utilization of evaluations performed by staff agencies of state legislatures

has many forms. Fundamentally such program evaluation supports legislative

oversight of the executive branch by providing information about the imple•
mentation and results of executive branch programs. Legislatures use this infor•
mation in a variety of ways-passing laws that create, modify, or eliminate
programs; making budget decisions; and jawboning executive branch officials
to make management or programmatic changes. In the legislative environment,
utilization extends considerably beyond direct implementation of formal
recommendations included in evaluation reports.

. Although many requests for evaluations are made in response to alarms or

reports in the media of troubles with a particular program, requests for
evaluations are also frequently included in enabling legislation as a pro•
gram is created or significantly modified. Increasingly legislatures are asking
evaluation agencies to go beyond evaluating the fiscal accountability of exec•
utive branch agencies or the efficiency of programs, to ask about program•
matic accountability. Legislatures are using evaluations of program outcomes
to make decisions about program design and funding evaluations conducted
continue to evolve and increase in number, a constant is their focus on
utilization.

Legislative Utilization of Evaluations

Don Bezruki, Janice Mueller, Karen
McKim
NEW DIRECTIONS FOR EVALUATION, o. 81, Spring 1999 @O Jossey-Bass Publishers