• The lowest voting percentages are by legislative leaders, who say they are often pulled away for meetings on individual important issues. The leaders' attendance in their assigned committees is often much worse than, say, regular members who are battling a serious illness, like cancer.

Truancy

While the overall voting percent of 91 percent on the floor and 78 percent in committee may sound good at first, consider that Utah law classifies public school students as "habitual truants," subject to court fines, if they are absent eight days a school year without excuse — or just 4 percent of all days possible.

Under that standard, 93 percent of Utah legislators could earn "unsatisfactory" citizenship grades for missing committee votes, and 73 percent could earn that for missing floor votes.

Legislative party leaders have the lowest voting rates in committee. In fact, they captured the 10 lowest rate spots out of the 104 total legislators.

Senate President John Valentine, R-Orem, had the lowest — making just 16.5 percent of his possible committee votes — but that was actually more than triple the 5 percent rate he achieved last year.

Next lowest this year was House Majority Leader David Clark, R-Santa Clara, at 25.4 percent, followed by House Majority Whip Gordon Snow, R-Roosevelt, at 33.7 percent and Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo, at 36.9 percent.

Valentine said he puts himself on two budget committees and three standing committees, even though he knows he won't make most of those meetings.

"I'm needed at times to break a tie vote or make the difference in a close vote," even if all those missed meetings may look bad later, Valentine said. At least twice last session, Valentine said, he was needed in close standing committee votes.

In contrast, House Speaker Greg Curtis, R-Sandy, does not assign himself to any standing committees because he says he would miss most of those votes if he did. However, he is a member of the Joint Executive Appropriations Committee (where all leaders make budget decisions), and achieved a respectable 90 percent voting rate there.

Curtis said: "I know I'm too busy" with leadership duties "to make committees, so I don't put myself on them. Because of their small numbers, the Senate may need to have leaders on some committees. With 75 (House) members and 55 (Republicans) in our caucus, our leaders don't have that problem." The Senate has only 29 total members.