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Tag Archives: roll call votes
What Rep. Watkins teaches us about party and ideology
Rank-and-file legislators know which side their bread is buttered on. Political scientists have made a parlor game of calculating ideology scores for elected officials based on their voting records. The gold standard for the US Congress is the DW-NOMINATE algorithm; you … Continue reading
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Tagged ideology, legislature, partisanship, roll call votes
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What Rep. Watkins teaches us about party and ideology
Who voted “nay” the most in the 2017 Legislature?
The House had its lowest failure rate in half a decade. As I posted earlier, the Utah Legislature is almost a bipartisan lovefest. Legislators just don’t like voting “nay.” In general, if something gets to the floor, it’s going to … Continue reading
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Tagged consensus, legislature, roll call votes
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Who voted “nay” the most in the 2017 Legislature?
Who missed the most votes in the 2017 Legislature?
Absenteeism declined in 2017. My previous two posts had some good news about the 2017 Legislature: Vetting time improved a little, giving the public more time to see most bills, and bipartisanship remained the order of the day. But now … Continue reading
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Tagged absenteeism, legislative life, legislature, roll call votes
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Who missed the most votes in the 2017 Legislature?
Utah lawmakers loved to agree in the 2017 Legislature
Most bills that make it to a vote pass comfortably with bipartisan support. The partisan rancor that pervades national politics seldom reaches the Utah Legislature. Simply put, Republicans control such an overwhelming supermajority of seats that they have no need to fear … Continue reading
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Tagged consensus, legislature, partisanship, roll call votes
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Utah lawmakers loved to agree in the 2017 Legislature
Naysayers in the 2016 Utah Legislature
Even more so than Representatives, Senators really don’t like voting “nay.” Utah legislators don’t like voting no. Well, most of them don’t. Only 3% (House) and 1% (Senate) of floor votes held in 2016 failed, and that was consistent with past … Continue reading
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Tagged consensus, legislature, roll call votes
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Naysayers in the 2016 Utah Legislature
Who missed the most votes in the 2016 Utah Legislature?
The perfect attendance award goes to Rep. Michael Kennedy, the only legislator to miss zero votes. Utah Legislators had only 45 days to consider 819 bills, passing 475 of them. The Legislature moves at such a breakneck pace that falling ill … Continue reading
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Tagged absenteeism, legislative life, legislature, roll call votes
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Who missed the most votes in the 2016 Utah Legislature?
The closest votes of the 2016 Legislature
Two of the session’s closest Senate votes came 45 minutes apart, voting on the same bill, within an hour of adjournment, with opposite results. The Utah Legislature loves consensus. Bills seldom pass on party-line votes. Instead, votes routinely pass with both … Continue reading
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Tagged consensus, legislature, roll call votes
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The closest votes of the 2016 Legislature
Unanimity remained the rule in the 2016 Utah Legislature
Utah’s Republicans and Democrats vote together more often than they vote against each other. Last fall, House Minority Leader directed a scathing op-ed at his Republican counterparts. Near the end of the 2016 session, Utah’s legislators approved changes to the (traditionally bipartisan) … Continue reading
Recap: The 2015 Utah Legislature
Last Thursday, the Utah Legislature concluded its seven-week annual lawmaking session. The state’s major newspapers have already published several excellent recaps of the major policy changes coming out of the session. So now I’ll give my annual recap of the session’s trends … Continue reading
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Tagged absenteeism, consensus, legislative life, legislature, measurement, rankings, representation, roll call votes
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Recap: The 2015 Utah Legislature
Which legislators missed the most votes in 2015?
When it comes to healthy legislators, Greg Hughes set a new record this year for missing votes Utah Legislators considered 831 bills during the seven-week 2015 General Session, passing 528 of them. Debating so many bills in so little time … Continue reading
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Tagged absenteeism, greg hughes, leadership, legislative life, legislature, roll call votes, speaker of the house
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