A citizen legislature is a legislative chamber made up primarily of citizens who have a full-time occupation besides being a legislator.
[1] Legislatures in the U.S. considered to be citizen legislatures include Montana,[2] Nevada,[3] Idaho,[4] New Mexico,[5] North Carolina,[6] North Dakota,[7] Oregon,[8] Utah,[9] Virginia[10] and Wyoming.
[11] Many other states in the US, by contrast, have a professional legislature.
James Madison wrote in Federalist No.
62 that "It is not possible that an assembly of men called for the most part from pursuits of a private nature, continued in appointment for a short time, and led by no permanent motive to devote intervals of public occupation to a study of the laws, the affairs, and the comprehensive interests of their country, should, if left wholly to themselves, escape a variety of important errors in the exercise of their legislative trust.