Eleven of the 16 "zeros" were Democrats, which is not surprising for that vastly outnumbered party. Maybe the most frustrated among them was Rep. Neil Hansen, D-Ogden. He introduced nine bills — about three more than the average House member — but failed to enact any.

Among Republican "zeros," who cannot use the excuse of being outnumbered by the opposition for their bill failures, were: Reps. Ken Sumsion, R-American Fork; Jim Bird, R-West Jordan; Sylvia Andersen, R-Sandy; and Sen. Kevin Van Tassell, R-Vernal. All were freshmen legislators, who as a group often have a harder timing passing bills in their first legislative session.

House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, did not introduce any bills (other than a blank "boxcar" bill used as a place-holder), but traditionally the House speaker and Senate president introduce few or no bills.

The workhorses

The Morning News analysis of all 797 bills and resolutions introduced in the 45-day general session also shows that eight legislators managed to pass all the bills they introduced — six House members and two senators. Only one Democrat was among them. He was Rep. Neal Hendrickson, D-West Valley. But he only introduced one bill: revising procedures on verifying signatures on petitions calling for voter referendums.

Some lawmakers are true workhorses, compared to their colleagues.

An average legislator would have passed four bills in 2007. Sixteen legislators passed at least twice that average, and all of them were Republicans. Eight were House members, and eight were senators.

Sen. Lyle Hillyard, R-Logan, passed 23 bills — by far the most of any legislator. Rep. Wayne Harper, R-West Jordan, was second but far behind at 15.

Sen. Carlene Walker, R-Cottonwood Heights, was third, passing 11 bills — all that she introduced. She was also the only "100 per-center" (for bills passed and introduced) among the workhorses who passed at least double the average number of bills. Most of the "100 per-centers" introduced only a few bills each.

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E-mail: lee@desnews.com; bbjr@desnews.com