WashingtonVotes NEWS: Wednesday, May 8, 2019

2019 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 2019 Regular Session of the Legislature. This year’s scheduled 105-day session ended just before midnight Sunday, April 28th, following marathon floor sessions and passage of key tax and spending measures over the weekend. It is the first time in ten years that an odd-year budget-writing session has finished on time.

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 6,500 active subscribers.

2019 Regular Session Quick Facts

•Bills introduced: 2,278

•Bills passed by the Legislature: 485

•Recorded Roll Calls on passage of bills in the House: 691

•Recorded Roll Calls on passage of bills in the Senate: 737

•Legislators with no missed votes: 56 (46 House Members; 10 Senators)

•Legislators with more than 100 missed votes: 5 (2 House Members; 3 Senators)

According to WashingtonVotes director Franz W. Gregory, state lawmakers worked at a brisk pace during this 105 day-session, taking a total of 1,428 recorded roll calls and passing 485 bills. By comparison, they took 1,167 roll calls and passed 339 bills during the comparable 105-day Regular Session in 2017. The totals for the 193 days of regular and special sessions during all of 2017 was 1,394 roll calls and 377 bills passed.

The ten-year average for bills passed, according to statistical reports by the Legislative Information Center, is 427 bills in odd years, and 292 bills in even years.

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 included with the PDF version of the 2019 Missed Votes Report that is available online HERE

The real-time Missed Votes database is also accessible by clicking “Missed Votes” on WashingtonVotes.org's 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.