Floor Power rating and bill sponsor batting average

During the last couple of weeks, I noticed a few people asking about a floor power rating and a bill sponsor batting average. Neither of these statistics are very accurate in my opinion, but first lets look at where the numbers come from and what they are supposed to mean and what they really mean.


Sponsorship

http://adambrown.info/p/research/utah_legislature/sponsorship?year=2016

for 2016, I started more bills than I typically would have. 15 are listed.
http://le.utah.gov/asp/billsintro/RepResults.asp?Listbox3=COXFC

Several of these were of the same subject as other legislators' bills and  typically they would have been sent out of House Rules at the same time to the same committee to have them deal with them, but this year the policy was changed and the rules committee only sent one of the bills out per group and let the sponsors try to deal with that. For that main reason, only 6 were voted on and 3 passed both houses and were signed by the Gov. or Lt. Gov. (Several of my bills that didn't leave rules had language that was discussed and included in other bills).

But this stat looks like 20% overall or 50% for those that were voted on in 2016. 

Back to the first link. For 2016, about 1/3 of the legislators passed fewer bills than I did. About 1/2 passed more. Some sponsored as many as 9 bills and had 0 pass while some sponsored one and it passed. 

For 2011, 2012, 2015, and 2016, I had 8 pass, not including the 4 that passed in 2013 that I had sponsored in 2012 for the 2013 session. That makes 12 total.

For 2015, I sponsored 9 bills, 3 were voted on and 3 passed both houses and were signed by the Governor.

It should be noted that the legislature rules allow a legislator to prioritize 3 bills per session.  While there are those that get more passed each session, many of those start in the senate. On average there are about 4 to 5 bills passed per legislator per session. For example 4.5 x 104 = 468 bills.

Some bills take multiple years to either get right or to get everyone on board, where possible. Some are very simple and everyone agrees to start with. This statistic doesn't take that into account. If you look at the list, you will note many very good legislators that do not do well with this statistic alone.

Again, if you look at my overall rating and the overall legislature, you will see things differently. 

Floor Power Rating.

http://adambrown.info/p/research/utah_legislature/floor_power

in 2011, I first saw this stat. At least a few of the ones with a very high floor power rating, were not the leaders, they were the followers. They literally looked at the board and voted which ever way most were going on some bills. I also noticed that those that voted "no" a lot were often not high on this score. I have averaged about 68.8%, for 4 sessions, in the middle of the pack. I typically have a higher "no" rating, and that doesn't help, and I am willing to be the only "no" on a given bill if I believe it has problems that hasn't been fixed. There are others that will do that, and they typically do poorly with this statistic.

There are some that have a very high power floor rating for some issues, but they don't show up that way just looking at the stats. Rep. Chew (for example) doesn't score really high, but you look at a bill dealing with ranchers and farmers, and his opinion on that bill matters at lot. My number for 2016 was lower than my other years. Some of that could have been because of my opposition to the prison relocation last year, but it is common for those numbers to vary year per year.

For different ratings or rankings for me in 2016, see:
http://fredcox4utah.blogspot.com/2016/03/rep-fred-cox-voting-ratings-for-2016_12.html

[update: One of the other things you will not see in the ratings/rankings is how many bills a Legislator kills with a great question, or amends or substitutes to make the bill better, what bills they helped create in a committee or advice they gave a sponsor of a bill. It is very hard for statistics to really show everything going on in the legislature]