Fellowships and Graduate Internships

Current openings

• Recruitment for the 2024-2025 ​​​Budget Fellowship​​​ is now closed
• Recruitment for the 2025-2026 Legal Internship​​​ is now closed.
• Recruitment for the 2024-2025 Public ​​Affairs Internship​ is now closed​​

The Budget Fellowship program is sponsored by the Office of Program Research. It provides one recent graduate with the opportunity to serve as a nonpartisan Fiscal Analyst with the House Appropriations Committee for one year. 

Fellows must be a recent graduate of a Masters or Ph.D. program in economics, business, public administration, or an allied field. This is a full-time, temporary position lasting approximately one year. 

Fellows receive specialized training in budget development and review, as well as legislative research and drafting, and gain “hands on” experience in the legislative environment. Their duties typically include developing and evaluating options to assist House members in meeting their goals, fiscal and policy analysis, review and analysis of agency budget requests and Governor’s budget proposals, research, bill drafting, and presentation of oral and written staff reports. 

The Office​ of Program Research sponsors a legal internship program and a public affairs internship program for law students or public administration graduate students who have completed at least one year toward their respective degrees. The program typically includes two legal interns and one public affairs intern each year.

The program offers these graduate students the opportunity to observe the legislative process and gain "hands on" experience by participating in a two-part program:

Training

The interns are employed with OPR (usually July through mid-September) learning the skills needed to assist committees during session.

Legislative session

The interns return to OPR in January for that part of the legislative session corresponding with winter quarter. Depending on the arrangements with their school, the interns may earn school credit for the winter quarter.

Legal interns work under the supervision of committee counsel and public affairs interns are supervised by counsel or analysts. Assignments vary depending on the activities and needs of the House committees. Generally, projects include​ researching legal and policy issues, analyzing legislative proposals, and drafting potential legislation for consideration during session.