Sometimes the stats don’t get fully tallied until after the season is over, and a look back at the 2005 Colorado General Assembly finds something unexpected: Eight Republicans passed every bill they introduced, but only three Democrats batted 1.000.
This imbalance came about even though Democrats, not Republicans, were running both chambers for the first time in 40 years.
Usually, the majority party has a much higher bill-passage ratio than the minority party. This year, thanks in part to Gov. Bill Owens’ vetoes, the two parties were identical.
At the other end of the stats, three Democrats and four Republicans lost every bill they introduced.
Before we get too far with this, let it be said that raw numbers don’t say a lot about a legislator’s usefulness.
Many bills pass because they’re inoffensive; they aren’t broad or challenging. And many bills that fail because they’re important and controversial.
And sometimes legislators who can’t pass any bill they introduce in their own chamber are quite adept at carrying someone else’s bill from the other chamber.
For example, Peter Groff, the Senate president pro tem, lost all three of the bills he introduced in the Senate. But the Denver Democrat signed on as the chief Senate sponsor for 12 House bills. Nine of them passed; two were vetoed.
That’s something else that happens to bills, and it happened a lot this year. The 47 vetoes by Owens were a record.
Without those vetoes, two- thirds of the bills introduced this year would have become law. That 67 percent is well above any legislative batting average in at least the past nine sessions. After all the vetoing, it was 59 percent – about the same as most years.
This year, Democrats passed 71 percent of the bills they introduced, but Owens’ vetoes reduced that to 59 percent. That evened the results. Republican sponsors overall had a 61 percent success ratio B.O. (before Owens), 59 percent afterward. Yes, the Republican governor vetoed three bills introduced by fellow Republicans – Reps. Lynn Hefley and Al White, and Sen. Tom Wiens.
The Senate was the more collegial chamber, where 62 percent of GOP bills and 68 percent of Democrats’ bills (78 percent B.O.) passed.
The comparable figures in the House were 58 percent of Republican bills and 53 percent of Democrats’ bills (65 percent before the governor started vetoing).
Based on the final, but unofficial, legislative status sheet, six House Republicans had perfect records: David Balmer, Centennial, and Richard Decker of Fountain, with five bills each; Jim Kerr, Littleton, four bills; Mike May, Parker, three; Diane Hoppe, Fort Morgan, two. Larry Liston of Colorado Springs introduced just one bill and it passed.
The lone House Democrat with a perfect record was Nancy Todd of Aurora with four bills. Like Republicans Balmer, Kerr and Liston, she’s serving her first term.
Rep. Mike Cerbo, D-Denver, would have had a perfect record if Owens hadn’t vetoed four of the five bills he introduced.
Sen. Jim Isgar, D-Hesperus, managed to get all nine of his bills passed. Senate President Joan Fitz-Gerald, D-Golden, was three for three.
Two Senate Republicans also aced: Las Animas Sen. Ken Kester, five bills; and Nancy Spence, Centennial, four.
It helped Republicans to have Democrats carry their bills in the other house. Of the 29 bills passed by Republicans with perfect records, 23 were carried by Democrats in the second chamber.
Two more Democrats, in addition to Groff, lost all the bills they introduced: Rep. Morgan Carroll of Aurora lost three bills in committee and one on the House floor. Rep. Mike Merrifield, Manitou Springs, managed to get one of his three bills all the way through both houses, but Owens vetoed it.
The four Republicans who lost every bill they introduced were House members: Lauri Clapp of Centennial and Jim Welker of Loveland, one bill each; John Witwer, Evergreen, two bills; and none of Berthoud Rep. Kevin Lundberg’s five bills made it out of committee. Must have been something he said.
Fred Brown, retired Capitol Bureau chief for The Denver Post, is also a former national president of the Society of Professional Journalists.
