GOP had 9-1 edge in bills passed

Exactly how much of a one-party state has Utah become?

Republicans sponsored nine of every 10 bills that passed the 2008 Legislature. This comes even while House Democrats passed twice as many bills as they did last year — which, unfortunately for them, isn't saying too much. After all, Democrats are outnumbered by Republicans overall in the Legislature 78-28.

So it's not surprising that Republicans dominate the list of those legislators who are most effective in passing the bills they introduce into law during the 45-day general session that ended March 5. For example, 15 legislators passed all the bills they introduced, and 12 were Republicans.

It's also not surprising that the least effective were mostly Democrats. Five legislators failed to pass any bills, and four were Democrats.

"One measure of effectiveness can be the ability of a legislator to pass tough legislation," said Senate Majority Leader Curt Bramble, R-Provo, who passed all 15 bills he introduced — the most of anyone with a 100 percent success rate. Still, he is not a fan of such "legislative report cards," which the Deseret Morning News has conducted for nearly two decades.

"Effectiveness is not necessarily related in the quantity of bills passed," he said. "If you look at my case, many of the bills that I ran this year are, by assignment or tradition, majority leader bills" dealing with executive compensation, use of space in the Capitol or matters to be studied during the year. "It's tough to say that indicates effectiveness."

The Morning News provides statistics of bills introduced and passed by each legislator annually because passing laws and adopting a budget are among their major duties. All 75 House members face re-election this year, as do 15 of the 29 senators. (A member-by-member list of all bills sponsored and passed is available at deseretnews.com).

And smart legislators know how to work the process to get their bills passed.

Rep. Todd Kiser, R-Sandy, also passed 100 percent of his bills — six for six. Kiser scored a rare double-double in 2008: He also managed to attend all the votes in his legislative committees, the only lawmaker to pass all of his bills and have a perfect committee voting record.

Kiser said he worked hard during the legislative interim last year to prepare bills that were vetted not only by many legislators but also by all other concerned parties.

"I had one bill that had both the insurance industry and the trial lawyer association in favor of it," said Kiser, an insurance agency by profession. "How often does that happen?"