30 July 2022

Regular legislative session scores, 2022

With everything dealt with, and no veto session, the Louisiana Legislature Log presents its 2022 Louisiana Legislature scorecard. Thirteen bills were selected and weighed for computation. These were chosen mainly from the watch list compiled throughout the session. For a bill’s vote 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. In the case of constitutional amendments, the governor’s score was adjusted similarly.

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 54 – would make criminal discrimination on the basis of vaccination status; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (5 percent).

HB 178 – would amend the Constitution to clarify that only citizens may vote; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (5 percent).

HB 190 – would make it easier to hoot up under the guise of medicine; a vote against connotes a conservative/reform preference (5 percent).

HB 194 – would create more educational choice for children with disabilities; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (10 percent).

HB 544 – would create additional crime deterrence by making it more difficult for habitual criminals to gain parole; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (10 percent).

HB 953 – would strengthen religious freedom protections for organizations; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (10 percent).

HB 1059 – would provide greater oversight on bail proceedings; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (10 percent).

SB 44 – would prevent discrimination against females in intercollegiate and scholastic sports; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (10 percent).

SB 141 – would prohibit insurers from using Wuhan coronavirus vaccination status as a criterion for coverage and rates; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (5 percent).

SB 142 – would provide for a minimum sentence for violent or sex offenders; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (10 percent).

SB 144 – would increase ballot security by make more strict hand delivery requirements; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (5 percent).

SB 342 – would bring clarity to the legal restriction of abortion allowing it only in cases of threat to the life of the mother or unborn, certain death of the unborn, or as a consequence of a futile pregnancy; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (10 percent).

SB 350 – would increase election integrity by ensuring improperly prepared ballots are challenged; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (5 percent).

The scores follow, House first, but as always readers should not take these as absolute indicators of legislator ideology because these capture only votes, not other actions. For example, while in the House Republican state Rep. Barry Ivey scored perfectly for conservativism/reformism, he also acted in other ways contrary to that agenda. Similarly, GOP state Sen. Rogers Pope also scored perfectly in that way, but strategically declared he would not vote for overturning any veto in an override session, prompting many senators from his party to vote down holding such a session because, they claimed, without his vote and the planned absence of another prefect scorer, Republican state Sen. Bodi White, that there was no way any vetoes could be overridden. 

Bacala

100

Republican

Crews

100

Republican

Davis

100

Republican

Echols

100

Republican

Edmonds

100

Republican

Farnum

100

Republican

Firment

100

Republican

Frieman

100

Republican

Gadberry

100

Republican

Garafalo

100

Republican

Illg

100

Republican

Ivey

100

Republican

McFarland

100

Republican

Miguez

100

Republican

Riser

100

Republican

Schamerhorn

100

Republican

Schlegel

100

Republican

Seabaugh

100

Republican

Stefanski

100

Republican

Villio

100

Republican

Wheat

100

Republican

Amedee

95

Republican

Beaullieu

95

Republican

Borriaque

95

Republican

Butler

95

Republican

Coussan

95

Republican

Fontenot

95

Republican

Harris, L

95

Republican

Hilferty

95

Republican

Horton

95

Republican

Kerner

95

Republican

McCormick

95

Republican

McKnight

95

Republican

McMahen

95

Republican

Orgeron

95

Republican

Romero

95

Republican

St. Blanc

95

Republican

Thompson

95

Democrat

Turner

95

Republican

Zeringue

95

Republican

Bagley

94

Republican

Goudeau

94

Republican

Carrier

90

Republican

DeVillier

90

Republican

Edmonston

90

Republican

Huval

90

Republican

Mack

90

Republican

Miller, G

90

Republican

Mincey

90

Republican

Pressly

90

Republican

Hodges

89

Republican

Deshotel

85

Republican

Freiberg

85

Republican

Johnson, M

85

Republican

Owen, C

85

Republican

Emerson

80

Republican

Geymann

80

Republican

Magee

80

Republican

Schexnayder

80

Republican

Stagni

80

Republican

Tarver, P

80

Republican

Thomas

80

Republican

DuBuisson

75

Republican

Muscarello

75

Republican

Nelson

75

Republican

White, M.

75

Republican

Wright

75

Republican

Owen, R

70

Republican

Adams

67

Independent

Bishop

65

Republican

LaCombe

60

Democrat

Brown

50

Democrat

Cormier

50

Democrat

Hollis

50

Republican

Johnson, T

45

Democrat

Marino

45

Independent

Selders

40

Democrat

Fisher

39

Democrat

Bryant

35

Democrat

Carter, R

35

Democrat

Brass

30

Democrat

Landry

30

Democrat

Green

25

Democrat

Carter, W

20

Democrat

Glover

20

Democrat

Jenkins

20

Democrat

Jordan

20

Democrat

Miller, D

20

Democrat

Carpenter

15

Democrat

Jefferson

15

Democrat

Marcelle

11

Democrat

Boyd

10

Democrat

Duplessis

10

Democrat

Freeman

10

Democrat

Gaines

10

Democrat

Hughes

10

Democrat

LaFleur

10

Democrat

Lavardain

10

Democrat

Lyons

10

Democrat

Newell

10

Democrat

Phelps

10

Democrat

Pierre

10

Democrat

Cox

0

Democrat

Moore

0

Democrat

Willard

0

Democrat

Evident here is the continuation of a trend especially in the second term of Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards: polarization. For the fourth consecutive year Republicans set a new record for highest score of 90.84 and for the third consecutive Democrats set a record for the lowest at 23.09. Unsurprisingly, the partisan gap for the chamber also hit a new all-time high of 67.74. By way of contrast, the historic (2004-present) GOP average is 72.45, Democrat average is 37.43, and therefore the gap averaging 34.92. Perhaps this should be expected with 21 Republican scoring perfectly joined by three Democrats at the other end. Partisan sorting again approached perfection, with just one Democrat, state Rep. Francis Thompson, appearing in the first 68 places and the remaining two Republicans tucked in at 70th and 74th place, with non-party state Reps. Roy Daryl Adams and Joe Marino in 69th and 76th, respectively. The first four Democrats all are whites, after which every other Democrat scored below 50 including the other three whites.

The pattern continued, on steroids, in the Senate:

Fesi

100

Republican

Foil

100

Republican

Hewitt

100

Republican

Mills, R

100

Republican

Mizell

100

Republican

Morris

100

Republican

Peacock

100

Republican

Pope

100

Republican

Reese

100

Republican

Talbot

100

Republican

White, B

100

Republican

Womack

100

Republican

Abraham

95

Republican

Bernard

95

Republican

Cortez

95

Republican

Milligan

95

Republican

Stine

95

Republican

Henry

95

Republican

Cathey

90

Republican

Connick

90

Republican

Hensgens

90

Republican

Mills, F

90

Republican

Ward

90

Republican

Allain

89

Republican

Cloud

83

Republican

Lambert

80

Republican

McMath

72

Republican

Smith

55

Democrat

Tarver, G

53

Democrat

Jackson

50

Democrat

Barrow

47

Democrat

Bouie

45

Democrat

Luneau

45

Democrat

Price

40

Democrat

Fields

36

Democrat

Harris, J

36

Democrat

Boudreaux

35

Democrat

Carter, G.

28

Democrat

Partisans sorted perfectly, with the lowest-scoring Republican 17 points higher than the highest scoring Democrat, one of the two whites. The other white Democrat scored in the middle of Democrats. For the second of three years after narrowly missing last year, Republicans scored a new high and with the highest score ever, 94.25, for a chamber as almost half of them scored perfectly on conservative/reform. Democrats also moved significantly higher, at 42.84 above their lifetime average. Even so, for the third year in a row a new highest partisan gap was established, at 51.41. Contrast these with the lifetime averages of 61.65 for Republicans, 39.56 for Democrats, and therefore a gap of 25.98

This scoring shot the Legislature’s average to it highest ever, for the second time in three years after narrowly missing last year, at 71.19. This was driven more by the Senate as the chamber gap was 11.14 points higher in its favor, the largest ever difference in that direction. Unsurprisingly, the partisan gap for the Legislature rose to its highest ever for the third consecutive year, of 63.88. That was twice as high as the lifetime average of 32.25, with the chambers’ lifetime average of 56.34 well exceeded.

Finally, going in the opposite direction was Edwards. Coming off last year’s all-time low, his score fell even further to 16 (for computational purposes, failure to sign a bill as in the case of SB 44 was treated as a veto). As was the case last year, a series of vetoes of high-profile conservative/reform legislation lay behind this. The result brings his lifetime score down to 42.86.

Until next time …. 

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