Some vote-skippers in the Legislature had excuses; others didn't

0 Comments | Deseret News (Salt Lake City), Mar 31, 2008 | by Copyright 2008 Deseret Morning News By Lee Davidson

Statistics show that this year, half of the appropriations subcommittee votes occurred when fewer than half of Senate members were present.

That happened 100 percent of the time, for example, in the Natural Resources Appropriations subcommittee. It happened in 92 percent of the time in the Transportation, Environmental Quality and National Guard Appropriations subcommittee. It happened 83 percent of the time in the Higher Education Appropriations subcommittee.

Sometimes as few as just one Senate member was present in an appropriations subcommittee vote to represent that body (occurring after a legal quorum had been established, but some senators then left).

Just one senator voting happened nine times (out of 24 total votes affecting legislation) in the Executive Offices & Criminal Justice Appropriations subcommittee. It happened once on the Health and Human Services Appropriations subcommittee.

Senate President Valentine said that with nine budget subcommittees -- all of which normally meet at the same time -- and with only 29 senators, "It doesn't take a genius to see we don't have enough senators to adequately staff all those meetings. I've pushed for fewer (budget) committees."

But that would stack dozens of House members on fewer budget subcommittees, diluting representatives' individual votes, something House leaders won't accept, Valentine said.

So there are times when only one senator will be voting in a budget committee, but that's "the way the numbers work out," said Valentine.

House members, not surprisingly, had much higher overall voting participation rates in joint appropriations committees than did senators. The average for House members was 87 percent, compared to 71 percent for senators.

Party numbers

Of note, Democrats had slightly higher overall voting participation rates than did Republicans. The typical Democrat had a 93.8 percent rate on the floor, compared to 90.3 percent for Republicans. In committee, the rate for Democrats was 82.5 percent compared to 75.6 percent for Republicans.

This is in part because Democrats, having such small numbers, are not needed (or sometimes wanted) in private meetings to settle sticky issues, and have more free time to vote on the floor and in committees.

"Because of our fewer numbers (20 House Democrats to 55 House Republicans), our members take committee votes very seriously," said House Minority Leader Brad King, D-Price. "We love it when we get to a committee and see a number of the Republicans' chairs empty. If two or three of them don't show up, we can actually (control the committee vote and) make some decisions -- we know this and take those opportunities when we can."

The House also had a higher voting participation rate than did the Senate. The typical House member had a 91.6 percent rate on the floor, compared to 90.4 percent for senators. In committee, the rate for the House was 79.2 percent, compared to 74 percent by senators.

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