WashingtonVotes NEWS: Monday, March 23, 2020

2020 Regular Session Missed Votes Report for Legislators released

WashingtonVotes.org has released its annual Missed Votes Report, which compiles the votes by lawmakers on recorded roll calls during the 2020 Regular Session of the Legislature. This year’s scheduled 60-day session ended at about 8:15 p.m. Thursday, March 12, 2020, following passage of key tax and spending measures, including $200 million in additional funding for the state’s coronavirus response.  

WashingtonVotes.org has provided access to objective descriptions of bills, amendments and votes of the Washington State Legislature since 2002. In addition, the website provides regular news updates to subscribers and website users, as well as a weekly roll call report to media outlets statewide. Currently, the site has more than 6,600 active subscribers.  

2020 Regular Session Quick Facts:  

• Bills/Measures introduced: 1,486 (includes Joint Resolutions/Memorials)

• Bills/Measures passed by the Legislature: 381

• Recorded Roll Calls on passage of bills/measures: 1,186 (617 in the House; 569 in the Senate)

• Legislators with no missed votes: 82 (65 House Members; 17 Senators)

• Legislators with more than 50 missed votes: 11 (7 House Members; 4 Senators)  

According to WashingtonVotes director Franz W. Gregory, state lawmakers worked at a brisk pace during this 60 day-session, including evening and weekend floor sessions. They took a total of 1,186 recorded roll calls and passed 381 bills. By comparison, they took 1,041 roll calls and passed 310 bills during the comparable 60-day Regular Session in 2018. The totals for the 105-day 2019 regular session were 1,428 roll calls and 485 bills passed.  

The ten-year average for bills passed, according to statistical reports by the Legislative Information Center, is 405 bills in odd years, and 288 bills in even years. This year’s number of bills passed exceeds the average for 60-day sessions by almost 100.  

In releasing the Missed Vote Report, Gregory pointed out that   “There are many reasons why legislators miss votes, such as civic or professional obligations, legislative negotiations, and medical and family emergencies.” He added that WashingtonVotes.org contacted the legislators who missed the most votes and gave them an opportunity to comment on their record. Comments from legislators who responded are available verbatim here.  

WashingtonVotes.org’s real-time Missed Votes database is also accessible by clicking “Missed Votes” under the Special Reports feature on the WashingtonVotes.org Home Page. Tallies are available for every session back to 2002 by changing the date range at the top of the page. Individual lawmakers’ records can be accessed by clicking on a member’s name.  

WashingtonVotes.org is a free public service of Washington Policy Center, an independent, non-profit public policy research organization with offices in Seattle, Olympia and Eastern Washington.