Why do regional legislatures in Russia introduce bills into the national legislature? The activity is particularly puzzling, given the very low success rate of these legislative initiatives in becoming laws. Why would such bill supply, therefore, be worth regional deputies’ time and energy, particularly when many of these legislators work part-time? And, once submitted, what explains the unlikely success of some initiatives? This paper tackles these questions, drawing on an original dataset of bills supplied to the State Duma, 1996-2021, and an original dataset of the characteristics of regional legislatures, including the share of part-time and United Russia deputies. The paper adds to our knowledge of regional-level and national-level politics in Russia, as well as the interplay between these two levels more broadly.
