With everything dealt with, and veto
session conlcuded, the Louisiana Legislature Log presents its 2023 Louisiana
Legislature scorecard. Thirteen bills were selected and weighed for computation.
These were chosen 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.
For HB 648 the votes used were from the veto session, while for HB 81, HB 182, HB 188, and HB 466 House votes were from the veto session while Senate votes came from the final vote of the regular session. All others used final votes for passage in the regular session.
Here are the bills on which the scorecard was computed, with the conservative/reform position and the weighing indicated:
HB 12 – requires most students failing reading in third grade to repeat; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (5 percent).
HB 16 – would have discouraged chronic burglary by raising the penalty; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (5 percent).
HB 70 – discourages criminal behavior by making fourth felony offenders serve more time with less chance of parole; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (5 percent).
HB 81 – would have protected school personnel from harassment and families and children from unscrupulous activism; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (10 percent).
HB 182 – would have not forced Wuhan coronavirus vaccinations as a condition of educational attendance; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (10 percent).
HB 188 – would have made parole more difficult for violent offenders; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (5 percent).
HB 242 – has parents opt in about corporal punishment instead of opting out; a vote against connotes a conservative/reform preference (5 percent).
HB 311 – would amend the Constitution to prevent outsourcing of elections to foreign or private concerns; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (10 percent).
HB 466 – would have prohibited school employee discussion of sexual identity outside of state content standards except as part of counseling with parental consent; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (10 percent).
HB 562 – continues the Motion Picture Investors tax credit; a vote against connotes a conservative/reform preference (10 percent).
HB 648 – prevents medical interventions on minors to alter their sex; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (10 percent).
SB 7 – allows parents more discretion over their children’s public library materials consumption; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (10 percent).
SB 159 – would have allowed for seventeen-year-olds to be tried as adults under certain conditions; a vote for connotes a conservative/reform preference (5 percent).
These are the score registered for member of the House of Representatives:
|
Bagley |
100 |
Republican |
|
Butler |
100 |
Republican |
|
DeVillier |
100 |
Republican |
|
Emerson |
100 |
Republican |
|
Firment |
100 |
Republican |
|
Fontenot |
100 |
Republican |
|
Frieman |
100 |
Republican |
|
Hodges |
100 |
Republican |
|
Horton |
100 |
Republican |
|
Mack |
100 |
Republican |
|
McFarland |
100 |
Republican |
|
Miguez |
100 |
Republican |
|
Schamerhorn |
100 |
Republican |
|
Tarver,
P |
100 |
Republican |
|
Echols |
95 |
Republican |
|
McCormick |
95 |
Republican |
|
Mincey |
95 |
Republican |
|
Orgeron |
95 |
Republican |
|
Owen,
C |
95 |
Republican |
|
Pressly |
95 |
Republican |
|
Seabaugh |
95 |
Republican |
|
Stefanski |
95 |
Republican |
|
Geymann |
94 |
Republican |
|
Amedee |
90 |
Republican |
|
Beaullieu |
90 |
Republican |
|
Borriaque |
90 |
Republican |
|
Deshotel |
90 |
Republican |
|
Edmonds |
90 |
Republican |
|
Edmonston |
90 |
Republican |
|
Garafalo |
90 |
Republican |
|
Ivey |
90 |
Republican |
|
McMahen |
90 |
Republican |
|
Riser |
90 |
Republican |
|
Romero |
90 |
Republican |
|
Turner |
90 |
Republican |
|
Bacala |
85 |
Republican |
|
Bishop |
85 |
Republican |
|
Carrier |
85 |
Republican |
|
Coussan |
85 |
Republican |
|
Crews |
85 |
Republican |
|
Gadberry |
85 |
Republican |
|
Goudeau |
85 |
Republican |
|
Harris,
L |
85 |
Republican |
|
Huval |
85 |
Republican |
|
Illg |
85 |
Republican |
|
Johnson,
M |
85 |
Republican |
|
Miller,
G |
85 |
Republican |
|
Muscarello |
85 |
Republican |
|
Owen,
R |
85 |
Republican |
|
Schexnayder |
85 |
Republican |
|
Schlegel |
85 |
Republican |
|
St.
Blanc |
85 |
Republican |
|
Thomas |
85 |
Republican |
|
Thompson |
85 |
Republican |
|
Villio |
85 |
Republican |
|
Wheat |
85 |
Republican |
|
Zeringue |
85 |
Republican |
|
Hollis |
80 |
Republican |
|
LaCombe |
80 |
Republican |
|
White,
M. |
80 |
Republican |
|
Wright |
80 |
Republican |
|
Kerner |
75 |
Republican |
|
McKnight |
75 |
Republican |
|
Cormier |
65 |
Democrat |
|
DuBuisson |
65 |
Republican |
|
Freiberg |
65 |
Republican |
|
Davis |
60 |
Republican |
|
Stagni |
60 |
Republican |
|
Brown |
55 |
Democrat |
|
Farnum |
55 |
Republican |
|
Hilferty |
55 |
Republican |
|
Nelson |
55 |
Republican |
|
Adams |
50 |
Democrat |
|
Magee |
45 |
Republican |
|
Moore |
45 |
Democrat |
|
Carter,
R |
40 |
Democrat |
|
Johnson,
T |
25 |
Democrat |
|
Cox |
20 |
Democrat |
|
Marcelle |
20 |
Democrat |
|
Glover |
15 |
Democrat |
|
Hughes |
15 |
Democrat |
|
Miller,
D |
15 |
Democrat |
|
Bryant |
10 |
Democrat |
|
Landry |
10 |
Democrat |
|
Carter,
W |
5 |
Democrat |
|
Fisher |
5 |
Democrat |
|
Freeman |
5 |
Democrat |
|
Knox |
5 |
Democrat |
|
LaFleur |
5 |
Democrat |
|
Lyons |
5 |
Democrat |
|
Selders |
5 |
Democrat |
|
Willard |
5 |
Democrat |
|
Boyd |
0 |
Democrat |
|
Brass |
0 |
Democrat |
|
Carpenter |
0 |
Democrat |
|
Gaines |
0 |
Democrat |
|
Green |
0 |
Democrat |
|
Jefferson |
0 |
Democrat |
|
Jenkins |
0 |
Democrat |
|
Jordan |
0 |
Democrat |
|
Lavardain |
0 |
Democrat |
|
Marino |
0 |
Independent |
|
Newell |
0 |
Democrat |
|
Phelps |
0 |
Democrat |
|
Pierre |
0 |
Democrat |
Looming elections certainly have a way of sorting out voting behavior. Of the 71 Republicans, they occupied the 63 highest scores, and all landed in the top 75, where only one, state Rep. Tanner Magee, fell below 50 (tied with the highest scoring black Democrat, state Rep. Pat Moore). The three Democrats mixed in who scored 50 or better – state Reps. Roy Daryl Adams, Chad Brown, and Mack Cormier, all are whites clinging to their districts in presumably tight reelection battles. Another white Democrat although with somewhat less pressure on reelection, state Rep. Robby Carter, follows, with all black Democrats plus three New Orleans-area whites following him.
In some cases, upcoming elections imposed imperatives. New Republican state Rep. Jeremy LaCombe, fully anticipating a challenge from a conservative Republican, who as a Democrat in the previous three years had averaged around 58, zoomed up to 80 this year. But independent state Rep. Joe Marino, knowing he wouldn’t run for reelection, who had averaged about 56 over this term until now, thus liberated fell to 0. Then there’s the special case of GOP state Rep. Richard Nelson, running for governor and seemingly trying to distinguish himself as a more moderate choice in that field by voting in a libertarian fashion. From 2020-22 he averaged 85, but dropped to 55 this year.
Some gamesmanship also transpired. Republican state Reps. Paula Davis and Joe Stagni have been among the least conservative in the GOP caucus, and both only had scores of 60 this year. Yet these could have been far lower had they not absented themselves from the veto session where they likely would have voted against overriding some or all of the vetoed bills included in the scorecard.
These elections dynamics – adding the likes of LaCombe and freeing others not opting for reelection like Magee to vote more in line with their own preferences than with their districts’ – contributed to a small average decline of Republican scores in the chamber to 86.40, down from last year’s all-time high over 90. But the party switching as well as Democrats realizing they can’t influence matters unless they backed attempted veto overrides caused the bottom to drop out in their scores as they voted much more in line with their own ideologies. Last year’s second-lowest mean ever was chopped in half again to establish a new all-time low of 12.88. As result, also a new mark was set for partisan gap, a yawning 73.52, overcoming last year’s. This means in this term every year was among the top six since the Log began recording scores in 2004. However, the House average in 2023 of 62.47 slid throughout this term from the all-time high of over 70 in 2020.
The Senate scores showed even greater partisan sorting:
|
Peacock |
100 |
Republican |
|
Hensgens |
95 |
Republican |
|
Morris |
90 |
Republican |
|
Abraham |
85 |
Republican |
|
Allain |
85 |
Republican |
|
Cathey |
85 |
Republican |
|
Cloud |
85 |
Republican |
|
Cortez |
85 |
Republican |
|
Fesi |
85 |
Republican |
|
Foil |
85 |
Republican |
|
Hewitt |
85 |
Republican |
|
Kleinpeter |
85 |
Republican |
|
Lambert |
85 |
Republican |
|
Milligan |
85 |
Republican |
|
Reese |
85 |
Republican |
|
Stine |
85 |
Republican |
|
Womack |
85 |
Republican |
|
McMath |
80 |
Republican |
|
Connick |
75 |
Republican |
|
Henry |
75 |
Republican |
|
Mills,
R |
75 |
Republican |
|
Mizell |
75 |
Republican |
|
Talbot |
75 |
Republican |
|
White,
B |
75 |
Republican |
|
Bernard |
65 |
Republican |
|
Mills,
F |
65 |
Republican |
|
Pope |
60 |
Republican |
|
Tarver,
G |
55 |
Democrat |
|
Jackson |
30 |
Democrat |
|
Barrow |
25 |
Democrat |
|
Smith |
20 |
Democrat |
|
Bouie |
10 |
Democrat |
|
Luneau |
10 |
Democrat |
|
Boudreaux |
5 |
Democrat |
|
Duplessis |
5 |
Democrat |
|
Fields |
5 |
Democrat |
|
Harris,
J |
5 |
Democrat |
|
Price |
5 |
Democrat |
|
Carter,
G. |
0 |
Democrat |
While containing many fewer – just one each – “perfect” conservative/reform and liberal/populist scorers, senators sorted perfectly and dramatically. Excluding retiring Democrat state Sen. Greg Tarver, every Republican scored within the 40-point range between 60-100, no Democrat scored within 30 points of that, and every Democrat scored within the remaining 30-point 0-30 range. And beside the highest-scoring Democrat retiring, the three lowest-scoring Republicans are as well, so all could vote unconstrained by constituent pressures.
The Senate Republican average fell to its lowest of the term, at 81.30, but still is the fourth highest of all time. However, while previously in the term Democrats had hovered near 40, the bottom dropped out this year to set an all-time low by several points of 15.91. Not surprisingly, with the previous three years having up until this year the three highest partisan gaps in history, this year’s had the highest by far at 65.39.
Interestingly, despite the smaller movements of Republican averages and more extensive ones of Democrats, the chambers ended up almost identical in average, separated by just a tenth of a point, the smallest in history. Again, not surprisingly, the partisan gap was the largest in history at 71.35, with the term now having the four highest ever.
Finally, the large slide downwards that Democrat Gov. John Bel Edwards had over the past two years reversed somewhat, as he scored 28. Still, his second-term average of 32.75 ended up well under the Legislature’s average of 68.47 and even farther apart from the majority Republicans’ 87.51, although he was in line with the minority Democrats’ 28.76.
And so 2023 legislative activity likely has ended, along with the term. Next year will feature a new legislature and governor.
No comments:
Post a Comment