THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 238 was signed by the governor; HB 537 was vetoed by the governor; HB 636 was signed by the governor; HB 646 was signed by the governor; SB 266 was signed by the governor; SB 269 was signed by the governor (note: HB 537 and SB 266 essentially were identical).
THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: SB 6 was vetoed by the governor.
SCORECARD
Total number of bills, House: 646; total number of bills, Senate: 272.
Total number of good bills, House: 45; total number of good bills, Senate: 19.
Total number of bad bills, House: 26; total number of bad bills, Senate: 11.
Total House good bills heard in House committee: 38; total Senate good bills heard in Senate committee: 18.
Total House bad bills heard in House committee: 25; total Senate bad bills heard in Senate committee: 8.
Total House good bills passed by House committee: 30; total Senate good bills passed by Senate committee: 13.
Total House bad bills passed by House committee: 4; total Senate bad bills passed by Senate committee: 3.
Total House good bills approved by House: 21; total Senate good bills approved by Senate: 12.
Total House bad bills approved by House: 2; total Senate bad bills approved by Senate: 3.
Total House good bills heard in Senate committee: 20; total Senate good bills heard in House committee: 12.
Total House bad bills heard in Senate committee: 1; total Senate bad bills heard in House committee: 3.
Total House good bills approved by Senate committee: 20; total Senate good bills approved by House committee: 11.
Total House bad bills approved by Senate committee: 1; total Senate bad bills approved by House committee: 3.
Total House good bills approved by Senate: 16; total Senate good bills approved by House: 5.
Total House bad bills approved by Senate: 1; total Senate bad bills approved by House: 3.
Total House good bills going to governor: 16; total Senate good bills going to governor: 4.
Total House bad bills going to governor: 1; total Senate bad bills going to governor: 3.
Total House good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 13; total Senate good bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 4.
Total House bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 1; total Senate bad bills signed by governor/filed with Secretary of State: 2.
Finally, we come to the computation of the Louisiana Legislature Log’s voting index for 2011. Higher scores represent votes more in line with conservative or reformist preferences, while lower scores denote favoring liberalism or populism. Votes on which this index is constructed come from those of some importance where there was at least some diversity (that is, obviously no 105-0 or 39-0 outcomes in at least one chamber). Below are the votes on bills with a description of what an affirmative vote means for each, and their weighings in computing the index:
HB 332 (10 percent) – increase contribution levels for some state employees to their retirement funding and reconfigures some governing boards of retirement funds; an affirmative vote is conservative/reformist.
HB 338 (5 percent) – would have created an unenforceable ban on cell phone usage in vehicles for all but emergency situations; an affirmative vote is liberal/populist (House only).
HB 384 (10 percent) – automatically allocates nonrecurring surpluses to pay down the unfunded accrued liability in retirement funds; an affirmative vote is conservative/reformist.
HB 416 (10 percent) – change parole eligibility to allow low-risk, nonviolent offenders to attain it earlier; an affirmative vote is conservative/reformist.
HB 509 (5 percent) – changes Louisiana’s presidential preference primary dates to allow qualification of a full slate of delegates to national conventions; and affirmative vote is conservative/reformist.
HB 526 (5 percent) – equalized tuition over time at community colleges and technical schools; an affirmative vote is conservative/reformist.
SB 6 (10 percent) – forces a school undergoing charter conversion to pay the unfunded accrued liability for past employees despite it not being run by that charter organization; an affirmative vote is liberal/populist
SB 13 (10 percent) – allows deduction of up to $5,000 for private school tuition on state income taxes; an affirmative vote is conservative/reformist.
SB 69 (5 percent) – creates another community college while retaining a technical school among the many in the state; an affirmative vote is liberal/populist.
SB 76 (10 percent) – by amendment prevents disproportionately favorable government contracts for unions to be allowed by local governments; an affirmative vote is conservative/reformist.
SB 113 (10 percent) – by amendment allows greater gubernatorial discretion in dealing with forecasted deficits; an affirmative vote is conservative/reformist.
SB 133 (5 percent) – would have protected civil liberties of breathing-impaired individuals by banning smoking from public commerce except for casinos; an affirmative vote is conservative/reformist (Senate only)
SB 259 (10 percent) – would have cut individual income taxes with commensurate reductions in state spending; an affirmative vote in the Senate is conservative/reformist and an affirmative vote to consider after the 57th calendar in the House is liberal/populist.
Election years always have some odd results, and there are some when we look at the 2011 scores:
House rankings, in descending order:
Ponti 95 Republican
Seabaugh 85 Republican
Smiley 85 Republican
Badon, B 85 Democrat
Dixon 85 Democrat
Ellington 85 Republican
Katz 85 Republican
Richardson 85 Republican
Thierry 85 Democrat
Burford 80 Republican
Carmody 80 Republican
Hardy 80 Democrat
Richard 80 Independent
Talbot 80 Republican
Champagne 75 Republican
Chaney 75 Republican
Cortez 75 Republican
Fannin 75 Democrat
Foil 75 Republican
Gisclair 75 Democrat
Honore 75 Democrat
Little 75 Republican
McVea 75 Republican
Robideaux 75 Independent
Barras 70 Democrat
Carter 70 Republican
Cromer 70 Republican
Danahay 70 Democrat
Hines 70 Republican
Howard 70 Republican
Jackson, M 70 Independent
Ligi 70 Republican
Lorusso 70 Republican
Moreno 70 Democrat
Norton 70 Democrat
Pearson 70 Republican
Smith, J 70 Republican
Stiaes 70 Democrat
White 70 Republican
Morris 65 Republican
Baldone 65 Democrat
Billiot 65 Democrat
Bishop 65 Democrat
Burns, T 65 Republican
Chandler 65 Republican
Connick 65 Republican
Downs 65 Republican
Harrison 65 Republican
Hazel 65 Republican
Hensgens 65 Republican
Hoffman 65 Republican
Huval 65 Republican
Jackson, G 65 Democrat
Kleckley 65 Republican
LaBruzzo 65 Republican
Montoucet 65 Democrat
Nowlin 65 Republican
Schroder 65 Republican
Simon 65 Republican
Arnold 63 Democrat
Guinn 60 Republican
Templet 60 Republican
Aubert 60 Democrat
Barrow 60 Democrat
Henderson 60 Democrat
Henry 60 Republican
Johnson 60 Democrat
Monica 60 Republican
Pope 60 Republican
Smith, G 60 Democrat
St. Germain 60 Democrat
Williams 60 Democrat
Abramson 55 Democrat
Brossett 55 Democrat
Burns, H 55 Republican
Doerge 55 Democrat
Dove 55 Republican
Franklin 55 Democrat
Greene 55 Republican
Hill 55 Democrat
Hutter 55 Republican
Jones, S. 55 Democrat
Guillory, M 55 Democrat
Lambert 55 Republican
LeBas 55 Democrat
Burrell 50 Democrat
Jones, R. 50 Democrat
Landry 50 Republican
Leger 50 Democrat
Lopinto 50 Republican
Ritchie 50 Democrat
Wilmott 50 Republican
Tucker 45 Republican
Anders 45 Democrat
Gallot 45 Democrat
Roy 45 Democrat
Armes 40 Democrat
Badon, A 40 Democrat
Smith, P 40 Democrat
Wooton 40 Independent
LaFonta 35 Democrat
Pugh 35 Republican
Thibaut 35 Democrat
Geymann 30 Republican
Edwards 30 Democrat
A couple of trends intersect in election years. One is that voting behavior swings in a more conservative/reformist direction, since that is the way political trends have gone in the state for the past couple of decades, accelerating in the past few. This means Democrats will post higher scores than usual meaning the House looks more conservative/reform than usual, and the average in the House, 63.13, and the average partisan gap, reduced to a little over eight points, shows it.
The other is the behavior of those not running again, willingly or otherwise, can vary markedly from past norms. For example, Speaker Jim Tucker historically has been one of the more solid conservative/reform votes, but this year scored well below the House average, even father below the GOP average of 66.36, and actually more in liberal/populist territory. In part this was due to him missing a large number of votes on these contentious issues, which gets counted as a vote against (as by the Constitution) unless a leave of absence was taken and then the score is pro-rated to account for that absence and three-quarters of the measured votes had affirmative votes denoting a conservative/reformist position.
Some surprises resulted in any event. Three black representatives scored the three highest scores of any of their colleagues in the eight years of the index. By contrast, a couple of higher-scoring Republicans in their careers scored well into liberal/populist terrain. And some things remain the same – with Rep. Erich Ponti scoring the highest, who may become the next Speaker, and Rep. John Bel Edwards scoring the lowest, who regardless of the Speaker outcome likely will remain in charge of House Democrats.
And now the Senate’s:
Crowe 65 Republican
Gautreaux 65 Democrat
Nevers 65 Democrat
Thompson 65 Democrat
Walsworth 65 Republican
Donahue 63 Republican
Chaisson 61 Democrat
Claitor 60 Republican
LaFleur 60 Democrat
Martiny 60 Republican
Mills 60 Republican
Morrell 60 Democrat
Morrish 60 Republican
Mount 60 Democrat
Smith, J 60 Republican
Michot 59 Republican
Guillory, E 55 Democrat
Heitmeier 55 Democrat
Kostelka 55 Republican
Riser 55 Republican
Quinn 53 Republican
Dorsey 50 Democrat
Adley 50 Republican
Alario 50 Republican
Appel 50 Republican
Cheek 50 Republican
Long 50 Republican
McPherson 50 Democrat
Perry 50 Republican
Erdey 45 Republican
Broome 45 Democrat
Chabert 45 Republican
Peterson 40 Democrat
Murray 40 Democrat
Amedee 36 Republican
Willard-Lewis 35 Democrat
Jackson, L 35 Democrat
Shaw 35 Republican
Marionneaux 25 Democrat
The same patterns emerge in the Senate. Republicans usually score lower here overall than their House counterparts, and that remained the case, but the partisan gap at around three was very small by historical standards. It’s not a surprise to see Sen. A.G. Crowe at the top, but it is to have following him closely three extraordinarily partisan Democrats, and not far behind their caucus leader Sen. Eric LaFleur who usually is found at or near the bottom in scores. At the other end, a high scorer all his career, term-limited Sen. Buddy Shaw, is the second-lowest of all, beating only the liberal populist Sen. Rob Marionneaux who, like Tucker, missed a number of crucial votes.
Finally, Gov. Bobby Jindal (whose index score is adjusted by the lack of HB 338 and SB 133 since neither passed both chambers), his score of 80 (reflecting signing of these bills except for his veto of SB 6) was more conservative/reformist than all but a handful of House members and was in line with his historic norms.
And thus the Log signs off until next regular session when a new Legislature and possibly (but unlikely) a new governor get sworn in.
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