Who sponsored the most bills in 2015?

Sen. Bramble has been the most active bill sponsor for 5 of the past 6 legislative sessions, introducing a total of 158 bills and resolutions over the past 6 years.

The Utah Legislature considered 831 bills during the 2015 General Session, passing 528 of them. That’s a lot of bills to pass in only 7 weeks, especially when you consider that there are only 104 legislators: 75 in the House, 29 in the Senate.

If the 831 introduced bills were spread around evenly, then each of the 104 legislators would have developed 8 bills. Of course, they weren’t spread around evenly. Four legislators introduced only one bill (Greg Hughes, Wayne Niederhauser, Brad King, and Sandra Hollins), and one introduced none (Susan Duckworth). Who, then, drove up the average?

This year’s most active bill sponsor was Sen. Curt Bramble, who introduced 32 bills, passing 28 of them. Those familiar with the Legislature won’t be surprised to see Sen. Bramble’s name at the top of the list. In fact, Sen. Bramble has been the most active bill sponsor for 5 of the past 6 legislative sessions, introducing a total of 158 bills and resolutions over the past 6 years.

Nipping at Sen. Bramble’s heels are Sen. Todd Weiler and Rep. Kraig Powell. Of course, not all active bill sponsors succeed at enacting their ideas into law. Though Sen. Bramble passed 28 of his 32 bills and Sen. Weiler passed 20 of his 29, Rep. Powell passed only 9 of his 23.

The table below lists legislators who sponsored 15 or more bills during the 2015 General Session, sorted by the “introduced” column:

Legislator Party Introduced Passed
Bramble, Curtis S. R 32 28
Weiler, Todd R 29 20
Powell, Kraig R 23 9
Harper, Wayne A. R 22 14
Osmond, Aaron R 22 11
Hillyard, Lyle W. R 19 18
Stephenson, Howard A. R 18 10
Eliason, Steve R 17 11
Urquhart, Stephen H. R 15 9
Jenkins, Scott K. R 15 9

Taking a different tack, the next table lists legislators who passed 10 or more bills, sorted by the “passed” column:

Legislator Party Introduced Passed
Bramble, Curtis S. R 32 28
Weiler, Todd R 29 20
Hillyard, Lyle W. R 19 18
Harper, Wayne A. R 22 14
Osmond, Aaron R 22 11
Dayton, Margaret R 14 11
Eliason, Steve R 17 11
Adams, J. Stuart R 12 11
Dunnigan, James A. R 13 11
Van Tassell, Kevin T. R 13 10
Stephenson, Howard A. R 18 10

Visit http://adambrown.info/p/research/utah_legislature/sponsorship for bill sponsorship data for all legislators (and for years back to 2007).

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About Adam Brown

Adam Brown is an associate professor of political science at Brigham Young University and a research fellow with the Center for the Study of Elections and Democracy. You can learn more about him at his website.
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