Rating the legislators: How we did it

The Deseret Morning News examined all the bills and resolutions introduced in the 2005 and 2006 Legislatures. Only bills and important resolutions were counted in the bills-introduced/bills-passed ratios. A resolution that would amend the Utah Constitution was counted; a resolution praising a high school football team was not. Often members of both parties' leadership introduce what's called "boxcar" bills — bills with general titles, like "tax changes" — that contain no text. They are introduced just in case, at the end of a session, the bill file is needed for last-minute action. The newspaper does not count those "boxcar" bills against the leaders' ratios if no text was ever placed into the bills.