Maryland Legislature 2013 Stats

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Maryland Legislature 2013 Stats

Here are some data we found worthy of remark from the 2013 Maryland General Assembly regular session.

House Bills 2013House statistics:

  • Bills introduced in the House:  1535
  • Bills with Third Readings:  571
  • Bills passed:  570
  • 99.82% of bills with Third Readings, passed
  • 37.14% of bills introduced in the House, passed

Not all of those bills passed both chambers.  When House bills are passed, they cross into the Senate.

House Bills in Senate 2013House bills in the Senate:

  • 455 of 570 had Third Readings
  • 454 of those 455 bills passed the Senate
  • 99.78% of Third Read House bills passed the Senate
  • 79.6% of bills that passed the House, passed the Senate (including those with Amendments)

 

Senate Bills 2013Senate statistics:

  • Bills introduced in the Senate:  1072
  • Senate bills with Third Readings:  450
  • Senate bills passed by the Senate:  448
  • 99.56% of bills with Third Readings, passed
  • 41.79% of bills introduced by Senate, passed Senate

After these bills pass the Senate, they cross over into the House.

Senate Bills in House 2013Senate bills in House:

  • Senate bills heard in House (First Reading):  448
  • Senate bills with Third Readings in House:  330
  • Senate bills passed in House:  330
  • 100% of Senate bills with Third Readings in the House, passed
  • 73.66% of Senate bills crossing into the House, passed

What does all of this mean?  Simply put, once a bill comes out of committee in the House or the Senate, the chance of it passing is nearly 100%.  Only 3 bills that made it out of committee failed in their House of origin.  This is why we stress that it is so important to fight bills in committee.

In 2014, the website will be improved, we’ll make it even easier to contact the committees, and when more Marylanders make their voices heard early in the process, we’ll have even more success.   Here’s to 2014!

MD Legislators’ Voting Records for 2013 - we have them!

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MD Legislators' Voting Records for 2013 - we have them!

Exciting news!  Maryland Legislative Watch is pleased to announce that we have the 2013 voting records for each Maryland Delegate and Senator!  As far as we know, this has never been done before.

Each record is linked and will display as a .pdf file.  Votes listed are floor votes, only.

Please take some time to view your representatives’ votes.  Does their rhetoric match their voting records?  How did they vote on issues important to you?

We are in the process of doing meaningful analysis on these votes but this is a long, labor intensive process so this will not come out for a couple months.

Notes:

  • First Reading means, “A bill as printed for the first time with its assigned bill number.”
  • Third Reading means, “A bill that is printed after second reading in the chamber of origin, including adopted committee or floor amendments.”
  • Special Orders means, “Floor action on a bill is postponed until a definite date or time.”
  • Any other terms you don’t understand?  The Maryland General Assembly (MGA) website has a, “legislative lingo” file that may answer your questions.
  • Third Reading may include amendment votes.  For bills with many amendments, e.g. SB 281, there will be many votes.  You’ll have to visit the MGA website for more details on those bills.
  • Don’t know who your representatives are?  Go to mdelect.net to find out.

These files are presented for information purposes by Maryland Legislative Watch.  Why  did we spend all this time and energy collecting this information?  We believe that sunshine is the best disinfectant.  Please use this information to research your current legislators and candidates.  Please also spread the word, so others may research their legislators and candidates.

Maryland General Assembly 90 Day Report

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Maryland General Assembly 90 Day Report

If you’re in the mood for some light reading, the Department of Legislative Services has available the 2013 session 90 Day Report.  This is issued each year.  Updated to add:  here are the 2014 and 2015 reports.

The current version is divided into twelve parts and each part addresses an area of public policy.  Area headings:

  • Budget and State Aid
  • Taxes
  • State Government
  • Local Government
  • Crimes, Corrections, and Public Safety
  • Courts and Civil Proceedings
  • Transportation and Motor Vehicles
  • Business and Economic Issues
  • Financial Institutions, Commercial Law, and Corporations
  • Health and Human Services
  • Natural Resources, Environment, and Agriculture
  • Education

The Department of Legislative Services includes some analysis.  Unsurprisingly, this analysis is slanted in support of government policies (existing or new).  For instance, the section on SB 281 starts:

Firearm Safety Act of 2013

The apparent national increase in incidents of mass shootings, and particularly the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting in Newtown, Connecticut in December 2012, brought renewed focus to issues relating to gun violence and individuals’ access to firearms.

The document goes through the above major policy areas and looks at both passed and failed legislation.  For those who are political junkies, this may make interesting reading.