Legislative regular session wrapup -- House scorecard

In this week’s wrapup we’ll look at voting records in the House. By next week, the governor should have decided what vetoes to issue so we’ll look at the Senate’s voting record and hers (in essence) for the 2006 Regular Session.

Thirteen bills were selected to compile to the scorecard. Eleven of these appeared as good or bad bills in the Log prior to and during the session, while the other two, HB 685 and HB 699, developed into litmus-test bills during the session. These bills were chosen because they represented important issues on which there was some dissension within the chambers.

A point scale was assigned to each, with more important bills comprising a greater proportion of the index, where low scores represent a very liberal/populist ideology and high scores represent a very conservative/reform ideology. Both the House and Senate were graded on all the same bills except for two, HB 853 which failed in the House and SB 700 which passed the Senate but was prevented from being considered in the House. House members only were scored for the former, Senate members only for the latter.

The bills and their proportions: HB 685 and HB 699 – 13 percent each; HB 1028 and HB 1129 – 11 percent; HB 815 and HB 194 – 9 percent; HB 1130 and HB 853 or SB 700 – 7 percent; SB 18, SB 382, SB 742, and SB 747 – 5 percent.

Usually, not voting was counted as voting against a bill, since that is the practical effect given the minimum thresholds to pass bills (53 in the House except for some matters where it is 70; 20 in the Senate except for some matters where it is 26). However, if a member had asked for an excused absence for that day, a “nay” was not recorded and that member’s figure would be adjusted by not including that vote. The same applied to the newest member of the House, seated with the session partly through.

House members are allowed to change their votes within a legislative day as long as changing it does not change the overall outcome of the vote. However, for the purposes of this scorecard, to emphasize that legislators need to be on top of their jobs, they were scored on their original votes.

Some things to note:

Only one member was “perfect” one way or the other, Rep. Mike Powell who scored 100 as the perfect conservative/reformer.

The leadership was pretty much at the extremes. Republican Delegation House leader Rep. Jim Tucker scored a 94, third-highest overall and among Republicans. Democrat Caucus leader Rep. Eric LaFleur scored the lowest of all, a 9.

Interestingly, House Speaker Joe Salter was the most conservative/reformist Democrat at 61, behind 26 Republicans and the independent Rep. Joel Robideaux.

But, he was ahead of 14 Republicans, including all three party switchers from last year. While Rep. William Daniel IV was close at 57, third-lowest Republican was convert Rep. Ernest Wooton, and second-lowest convert Rep. Blade Morrish.

The lowest scoring Republican was Rep. Joe Toomy at 28, while the typical House Republican scored 64. The Democrat average was a 34, meaning only he, Morrish, and Wooton scored at or below that, while obviously no Democrat scored above the Republican average.

Relative to last year’s position, the biggest mover was Rep. Billy Montgomery, rising from tied for second-lowest scoring to fourth-highest Democrat at 56. (Rumor runs rampant that term-limited Montgomery in 2007 wants to run as a Republican in the theoretically most conservative Senate district in the state, District 37 now held by Sen. Max Malone).

Powell, M Republican 100
Schneider Republican 95
Tucker Republican 94
LaBruzzo Republican 93
Scalise Republican 88
Kennard Republican 87
Lambert Republican 86
Burns Republican 82
Katz Republican 80
Greene Republican 77
Walsworth Republican 77
Beard Republican 75
Crane Republican 74
Lancaster Republican 74
Bowler Republican 70
Winston Republican 69
Geymann Republican 68
Smiley Republican 67
Alexander Republican 64
Crowe Republican 64
Smith, JH Republican 64
Waddell Republican 64
Bruneau Republican 63
Dove Republican 61
Johns Republican 61
Pitre Republican 61
Robideaux Independent 61
Salter Democrat 61
Erdey Republican 60
Hebert Democrat 60
Alario Democrat 58
Daniel Republican 57
Montgomery Democrat 56
Martiny Republican 54
Hutter Republican 52
Smith, G Democrat 52
Trahan Republican 52
Chandler Democrat 52
Faucheux Democrat 51
Bruce Democrat 50
Frith Democrat 46
Morrell Democrat 46
Odinet Democrat 46
Strain Republican 46
Ansardi Democrat 45
Hammett Democrat 45
Powell, T Republican 45
Baudoin Democrat 44
Cravins, Jr. Democrat 44
McVea Republican 44
Fannin Democrat 43
Smith, JR Democrat 43
Triche Democrat 43
White Republican 41
Hopkins Democrat 40
Carter, R Democrat 39
Downs Republican 39
McDonald Democrat 39
Townsend Democrat 39
Kleckley Republican 37
Damico Democrat 36
Guillory, E Democrat 36
Jackson, M Democrat 36
Romero, R Democrat 36
Durand Democrat 35
Richmond Democrat 35
Badon Democrat 34
Baldone Democrat 34
Carter, K Democrat 34
Heaton Democrat 34
Kenney Democrat 34
Pinac Democrat 34
Ritchie Democrat 34
Wooton Republican 34
Hunter Democrat 32
LaFonta Democrat 32
Cazayoux Democrat 30
Farrar Democrat 30
Glover Democrat 30
Hill Democrat 30
Morrish Republican 30
Thompson Democrat 30
Dartez Democrat 29
Toomy Republican 28
Walker Democrat 28
DeWitt Democrat 26
Guillory, M Democrat 26
Jefferson Democrat 24
Baylor Democrat 24
Curtis Democrat 23
Gallot Democrat 23
Gray Democrat 23
Honey Democrat 23
Marchand Democrat 23
Quezaire Democrat 23
Barrow Democrat 23
Doerge Democrat 21
Harris Democrat 21
St. Germain Democrat 21
Arnold Democrat 18
Pierre Democrat 18
Smith, JD Democrat 14
Burrell Democrat 10
Dorsey Democrat 10
LaFleur Democrat 9