Louisiana Legislature Log

Legislative regular session rankings, 2011

2011-07-16T20:00:00.007-05:00

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 (companion bill HB 435).

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 57^th 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

Appell 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.

Legislative regular session through Jul. 9, 2011

2011-07-09T12:15:00.001-05:00

The governor continues to deal with bills. Interestingly, he continues to sit on two bills, one from each chamber, which would do basically the same thing by transferring the University of New Orleans from the Louisiana State University System to the University of Louisiana system. Next week their final dispositions and rankings will appear.

THIS WEEK FOR THE GOOD: HB 238 was signed by the governor; HB 377 was signed by the governor; HB 636 was signed by the governor; HB 646 was signed by the governor; SB 269 was signed by the governor.

THIS WEEK FOR THE BAD: SB 6 was vetoed by the governor; SB 171 was signed by the governor.