Legislative regular session rankings, 2014

And so the session is complete, save an unprecedented and would be miraculous veto override session being called. Thus, it’s time to compute the voting scorecard for the 2014 session. Sixteen issues were selected and weighed for computation, all but four having been voted upon in both chambers. These were chosen mostly from the watch list compiled throughout the session, along with others of some importance. For a bill’s vote(s) to be selected, in one chamber there had to be more than one legislator not voting for the winning or losing side.

Being that passage of bills depends upon the seated membership of a body, not voting is counted as a negative vote. However, if a legislator had a leave of absence granted for that day, his absent votes weren’t counted for bills voted on that day and the score adjusted to take that into account.

Here are the bills with votes for final passage in every case on which the scorecard was computed, with the conservative/reform position and the weighing indicated:

HB 45 – (House only) would have increased actuarially soundness on retirement systems by offering fewer benefits for new hires; a conservative/reform vote is for (5 percent).

HB 96 – amends the Constitution to remove age limits for judges; a conservative/reform vote is against (10 percent).

HB 187 – would provide regulation of surrogacy; a conservative reform vote is against (5 percent).

HB 305 – bans literature about abortion from being distributed in schools by abortion providers; a conservative/reform vote is for (5 percent).

HB 388 – increases safety standards at abortion clinics; a conservative/reform vote is for (5 percent).

HB 501 – allows for registration to vote at age 16 prior to being allowed to vote after age 18; a conservative/reform vote is against (5 percent).

HB 703 – (House only) would have limited the ability of charter schools to operate; a conservative/reform vote is against (10 percent).

HB 1097 – allows Shreveport voters to make a tax increase permanent; a conservative/reform vote is against (5 percent)

HB 1262 – requires information be provided to women seeking abortions about it and human trafficking; a conservative/reform vote is for (5 percent).

SB 1 – (Senate only) would have placed restrictions on legislator ability to grant Tulane scholarships; a conservative/ reform vote is for (5 percent)

SB 337 – creates an outcomes-based formula for funding higher education; a conservative/reform vote is for (5 percent).

SB 359 – puts federal protections providing for equal pay into state law; a conservative/reform vote is for (10 percent)

SB 361 – allows public safety officers ability to carry concealed weapons in public; a conservative/reform vote is for (5 percent).

SB 469 – specifies which state and local government agencies can sue under the law to provide for coastal restoration damages; a conservative/reform vote is for (15 percent).

SB 674 – (Senate only) would have removed temporarily the ability for municipalities to incorporate; a conservative/reform vote is against (10 percent)

SB 682 – provides a framework to expand provision of health insurance to all adult indigent without additional cost to the state; a conservative/reform vote is for (10 percent).

To begin with historical trends, in the House its overall score of 59.46 was about 7 points higher than the historical norm. This was due to reduced liberalism/populism among Democrats’ voting, for while the overall Republican member average of 69.41 was just a point higher than their average since 2003, Democrats at 46.21 were over 8 points higher. The partisan gap as a result was over 7 points below the historical norm.

In the Senate, its 58.13 was about 8 points higher than the historical norm, with Republicans at 65.24 and Democrats at 43.90, both about 4 points up. (Different proportions of Republicans and Democrats over the years leads to the greater difference of the combination of the two than each separately.) Unsurprisingly, this led to a partisan gap almost exactly that as seen historically.

As for the individuals, some names with the very highest and lowest scores remained the same from previous years while a few ranked elsewhere. Not surprisingly, in the House 24 of the 26 most conservative/reform members were Republicans, with only no-party Rep. Dee Richard and highest-scoring Democrat by far Rep. Jeff Arnold as the outliers. Only Reps. Mike Huval and Eddie Lambert scored below 50 among Republicans. The lowest 15 scorers all were Democrats. At the bottom were two urban black female Democrats, Reps. Barbara Norton and Pat Smith, while at the top were Reps. Alan Seabaugh and Lenar Whitney, (with Gordon Dove barely behind the two), her notably recently having announced a congressional bid.

Rankings for the House

Seabaugh	95	Republican
Whitney	95	Republican
Dove	95	Republican
Champagne	90	Republican
Ivey	90	Republican
Lorusso	85	Republican
Arnold	80	Democrat
Burns, T	80	Republican
Garafalo	80	Republican
Harris	80	Republican
Hensgens	80	Republican
Hodges	80	Republican
Landry, N	80	Republican
Morris, Jay	80	Republican
Pugh	80	Republican
Adams	79	Republican
Bishop, S	75	Republican
Carmody	75	Republican
Carter	75	Republican
Geymann	75	Republican
Greene	75	Republican
Mack	75	Republican
Pylant	75	Republican
Richard	75	Independent
Stokes	75	Republican
Morris, Jim	74	Republican
Billiot	70	Democrat
Danahay	70	Democrat
Fannin	70	Republican
Guinn	70	Republican
Harrison	70	Republican
Jones	70	Democrat
Kleckley	70	Republican
Leopold	70	Republican
Miller	70	Republican
Reynolds	70	Democrat
Thibaut	70	Democrat
Thompson	70	Republican
Connick	68	Republican
Simon	67	Republican
St. Germain	67	Democrat
Barras	65	Republican
Berthelot	65	Republican
Broadwater	65	Republican
Burford	65	Republican
Burns, H	65	Republican
Chaney	65	Republican
Cromer	65	Republican
Dixon	65	Democrat
Gisclair	65	Democrat
Henry	65	Republican
Hoffman	65	Republican
Hollis	65	Republican
Howard	65	Republican
Schexnayder	65	Republican
Schroder	65	Republican
Badon	60	Democrat
Burrell	60	Democrat
Ponti	60	Republican
Robideaux	60	Republican
Talbot	60	Republican
Anders	55	Democrat
Brossett	55	Democrat
Foil	55	Republican
Havard	55	Republican
Honore	55	Democrat
Ortego	55	Democrat
Pope	55	Republican
Thierry	55	Democrat
Wilmott	55	Republican
Lopinto	53	Republican
Bishop, W	50	Democrat
Hazel	50	Republican
Hill	50	Democrat
LeBas	50	Democrat
Pearson	50	Republican
Price	50	Democrat
Shadoin	50	Republican
Franklin	45	Democrat
Jefferson	45	Democrat
Ritchie	45	Democrat
Williams, P.	45	Democrat
Woodruff	45	Democrat
Edwards	42	Democrat
Brown, Terry	40	Independent
Cox	40	Democrat
Guillory, M	40	Democrat
Huval	40	Republican
Johnson	40	Democrat
Lambert	40	Republican
Jackson, K	35	Democrat
James	35	Democrat
Landry, T	35	Democrat
Moreno	35	Democrat
Pierre	35	Democrat
Williams, A.	35	Democrat
Abramson	33	Democrat
Leger	30	Democrat
Montoucet	30	Democrat
Barrow	25	Democrat
Hunter	25	Democrat
Armes	21	Democrat
Gaines	20	Democrat
Norton	15	Democrat
Smith	15	Democrat

The same pattern existed in the Senate (indeed, the same name as most conservative/reform: Sen. Neil Riser); the 17 highest scorers being Republicans, and the 8 most liberal/populist members being Democrats. They were followed by the only two Republicans below 50, Sens. Bob Kostelka and Fred Mills at 45 and relatively new Republican Sen. Rick Ward at 40. Most liberal/populist were the embattled Sen. Yvonne Dorsey-Colomb and Sen. Edwin Murray. Second-most conservative/reform was one of Whitney’s competitors, Sen. Dan Claitor.

Rankings for the Senate:

Riser	90	Republican
Claitor	80	Republican
Chabert	75	Republican
Long	75	Republican
Peacock	75	Republican
Smith, J	75	Republican
Walsworth	75	Republican
Erdey	74	Republican
Cortez	70	Republican
Perry	70	Republican
White	70	Republican
Adley	65	Republican
Alario	65	Republican
Allain	65	Republican
Buffington	65	Republican
Johns	65	Republican
Morrish	65	Republican
Smith, G	65	Democrat
Thompson	65	Democrat
Amedee	63	Republican
Heitmeier	61	Democrat
Appel	60	Republican
Donahue	60	Republican
Martiny	56	Republican
Broome	55	Democrat
Crowe	55	Republican
Tarver	55	Democrat
Guillory, E	54	Republican
LaFleur	50	Democrat
Kostelka	45	Republican
Mills	45	Republican
Morrell	45	Democrat
Nevers	40	Democrat
Ward	40	Republican
Gallot	37	Democrat
Brown, Troy	30	Democrat
Peterson	28	Democrat
Dorsey-Colomb	20	Democrat
Murray	20	Democrat

Finally, Gov. Bobby Jindal, based upon his record of signing or vetoing the 11 pieces of legislation of these that got to him (some having made it out of only one chamber, and one being a constitutional amendment) scored 81. And that ends coverage of the 2014 regular session.