誰要議題所有權？立法委員立法提案與議題所有權的建立

This paper aims to analyze the distribution of legislative initiatives across issue areas through the lens of issue ownership and explore factors affecting the patterns of bill-introduction activities. Toward this end, this research proposes an index of issue ownership to evaluate individual legislators' potential to earn issue ownership. Through in-depth interviews, a survey of legislators' staffs and content analysis of legislative initiatives in the 8th Legislative Yuan (2012-2015), I find that some legislators are more likely to focus their bill-introduction efforts on particular issue areas, lending them with the potential to earn issue ownership, while others' initiatives are more widely spread across issue areas. This research further demonstrates that legislators with a particular professional background are more likely to pursue issue ownership than those without. Moreover, controlling for the backgrounds, the difference between legislators elected from different electoral rules is not significant, meaning that legislators' backgrounds, rather than the electoral rules, can better account for the patterns of bill introduction. Additionally, senior members are less likely to pursue issue ownership than junior ones. Important implications for legislative professionalization and representation can be drawn from these findings.