Idaho Legislature’s rate in passing bills last year was the lowest in a decade

Last year, bills introduced in the Idaho Legislature became law at a lower rate than any legislative session in the last decade, according to an analysis by the Idaho Statesman.

Despite being the longest legislative session on record, the Legislature passed a roughly equal or lesser percentage of bills compared to each session since 2012. Just 56% of bills introduced last year became law — the lowest percentage in the last 10 years and the second consecutive session that the passage rate dipped.

“It’s ultimately ironic, given that we had the longest session in Idaho history, by far, and yet the least productive,” House Minority Leader Ilana Rubel, D-Boise, told the Statesman by phone.

The Statesman’s analysis compiled 10 years of bills using data from the Idaho Legislature and counted the number that became law. The analysis focused on bills that were introduced in a committee, not drafted legislation that was never assigned a bill number.

Former and current lawmakers have different theories on why the passage rate has been dropping. Some have expressed frustration at an increase in hastily produced and ideologically driven legislation. Others have decried a lack of support from lawmakers who chair committees, set the agendas and control whether bills are heard.

The House, especially, has seen its passage rate wane during the previous two sessions. Just over half, 51%, of House bills became law in 2021, down from an average of 60% in the past decade. About 63% of Senate bills became law, also a drop from a 69% average.

The comparison becomes particularly striking when factoring in lengths of the sessions. With recess days and time spent on drafted bills, state legislators passed just about one bill per regular session day last year. In the past decade, the average rate was four bills a day.

The Statesman’s analysis excluded resolutions, memorials and proclamations. A bill, if passed, enacts or changes an existing law or appropriates money. Resolutions, memorials and proclamations do not alter state code, but they can establish an opinion, petition another governing body or record an event on behalf of legislative bodies.

A ‘broken legislative process’?

On May 12, as the Legislature was preparing to recess until November, the Idaho Conservative Agenda, a group of ultra-conservative lawmakers primarily from the House, held a news conference to tout their session accomplishments. But much of the discussion focused on bills that didn’t get passed.

Reps. Tammy Nichols, R-Middleton, and Karey Hanks, R-St. Anthony, complained that their bills attacking vaccine mandates stalled in committees, particularly in the Senate.

“We had more than 185 pieces of legislation, most of those our ideas, ideas from you, from Idahoans, that are not being allowed to go through the legislative process,” said Priscilla Giddings, R-White Bird, who’s running for lieutenant governor. “That is a broken legislative process.”

Since 2012, the Idaho Legislature has an average 63% bill passage rate. During that period, House bills have consistently seen a lower success rate than the Senate, an average difference of 9%. In 2020, the gap was 10%, and in 2021, it was 11%.

House Speaker Scott Bedke, R-Oakley, said by phone that he doesn’t have a “hard reason why that percentage is going down.”

“I do see legislators introducing bills, basically, to make a statement,” he said. “They don’t make it through the process, so they don’t make a difference, but it’s all about making a statement. I think that might be indicative of the political times.”

Rubel, who is starting her fourth legislative term this month, said the declining rate is a symptom of the “radicalization” of the House. Republican members often support or oppose legislation, such as appropriations and budgets, based on ideology as opposed to governing principles, Rubel said.

“The Senate, at least in recent years, has been more invested in the smooth-running of government and making sure the trains are running on time, metaphorically speaking,” Rubel said.

The House and Senate divide was apparent during the November session, when the full House greenlit dozens of bills that never made it past a Senate committee. In three days’ time, the only legislation the two bodies agreed upon was a joint memorial calling President Joe Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates an overreach of power.

“I think that is symptomatic of what’s going on in the House, in particular,” Bruce Newcomb, a former Republican House Speaker who served for 20 years in the Legislature, told the Statesman by phone. “It’s basically become a non-functional institution.”

Idaho maintains relatively high bill passage rate

Jaclyn Kettler, a Boise State University political science professor, said there was an “explosion” of legislation last year. Idaho lawmakers introduced 660 bills during the 311-day session. That’s at least 100 more than any preceding session since 2012.

Many bills, such as those targeting federal COVID-19 requirements introduced during the November extended session, were similar in scope, Kettler said by phone.

“In an attempt to address some of these pressing issues we just got a lot of bills trying to solve the problem in a variety of ways,” Kettler said. “So we got a lot of similar types of proposals that all couldn’t be passed.”

Regardless of the recent downward trend, Idaho maintains a high bill passage rate compared to other U.S. states. The average for states ranges from from 20% and 25%, according to multiple studies.

That’s thanks to a couple of factors which set Idaho apart, Kettler said. First, Idaho legislation must pass through an introductory screening by a committee before it’s officially introduced and assigned a bill number. That process can weed out legislation that’s unlikely to garner support.

Second, the Idaho Legislature is dominated by Republicans, which makes it easier to pass legislation, compared to more politically divided states, Kettler said.

“Some of those factors have allowed Idaho to have a pretty high bill passage rate, but it is really interesting to see that declining,” she said. “Is this just a really weird time, and we have these issues like the pandemic that are just unique? Or, is this a long-term trend driven by some of the ideological factions within the Republican Party?”

Committee chairs ‘gatekeepers’ to passing laws

Rep. Lance Clow, R-Twin Falls, who chairs the House Education Committee, acts as a “gatekeeper” over legislation that comes through the committee. That means sometimes he declines to host hearings on bills. He told the Statesman by phone that he considers the strength of the legislation and the odds it will pass both legislative bodies.

“It’s part of my job to manage the time and the energy of the members of the committee,” Clow said.

Clow pushed back on the idea that a low passage rate is an indication of the Legislature’s ineffectiveness. Some bills were never meant to pass, he said. Sometimes bills are introduced as a “flare,” so the public will simply be alerted to an important problem. Some bills fail because another better addressed the same issue.

“Maybe that’s a good thing,” Clow said. “Maybe that means we’re working our way down to getting a better bill.”

Senate Minority Leader Michelle Stennett, D-Ketchum, is a member of the Senate State Affairs Committee that killed several House bills in November by holding them in committee. Stennett told the Statesman by phone that there’s a “dance, for a lack of better word,” between the two legislative bodies. Lawmakers in each chamber will propose and support legislation knowing it will meet opposition from the other, she said.

Stennett, who described herself as a “policy wonk,” said she’s increasingly frustrated with a lack of “rigor” in policy-making.

“I see an increase over time of quickly crafted, not very thought out, reactive, emotional pieces of legislation that they want to throw at the wall and see what sticks,” Stennett said. “And when you tear it apart, its unconstitutional, unenforceable, not well-written, not understandable, and so it ends up not going anywhere.”

Bedke, who’s running for lieutenant governor, said he tells House lawmakers that their effectiveness is tied to their ability to work with the Senate, and vice versa.

“We have a bicameral system and we’ve got to work across the rotunda, or all we end up doing is making statements, but we make no change in the underlying statute,” he said.

Bedke said he doesn’t know what the answer is to improve the rate of bills becoming law. But, he added, “sometimes fewer laws are better.”

Editor Hayat Norimine contributed to this report.

This story was originally published January 7, 2022 at 4:00 AM.