Bills and workload in the Utah Legislature, 2007-2026 -- Adam Brown, BYU Political Science

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Bills and workload in the Utah Legislature, 2007-2026

The materials below summarize the number of bills (including resolutions) considered by the Utah legislature in recent years. Some clarifications:

The "day" starts at 1 on the first day of the session and counts up to 46, the last day of the session. (The Legislature does not count President's Day in calculating the 45-day session, but I do.)
A bill's "age" is the number of days that have passed since the bill was first introduced. (Age is 1, not 0, on introduction day.)
"Passed" means a bill passed the legislature. I do not record here whether the governor signed or vetoed it.
"Trend" plots are scaled so that the minimum and maximum values define the range of the vertical axis, which may have the incidental effect of causing some visual exaggeration. Consume wisely.

Key observations:

Few bills are ready on day 1. Bill introductions got noticeably later beginning in 2009, when the Legislature's start date moved to the 4th Monday in January.
Many bills never come to a vote. Some get held up in Rules and never get sent to a committee. Some die in committee. Some pass committee but don't make it to the floor before the session ends.
Very few bills are voted down on the floor. Committees and prioritization, not negative votes, determine which bills fail. If a bill makes it to a final floor vote, it will probably pass. The action is in the committees and floor calendar prioritization.
Bills introduced later in a session are more likely to fail.

Key charts

First some charts, then the raw data.

Data tables

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026
Bills actually introduced (#)	733	744	704	713	782	765	748	786	831	819	810	817	842	832	768	814	929	934	959	1,016
Avg day of introduction	9.2	9.2	11.1	12.4	15.5	14.1	14.7	14.0	13.8	13.7	12.2	12.8	13.3	15.4	13.5	14.1	14.7	10.7	11.0	8.8
# introduced on first day	292	328	256	226	191	215	222	245	269	282	279	309	245	264	319	310	331	428	430	487
# introduced in first week	392	410	339	309	272	285	292	326	345	376	371	392	405	347	361	355	385	484	489	587
# introduced in first two weeks	546	551	488	449	403	431	393	442	467	461	490	487	497	421	429	429	469	604	597	707
# introduced in last three weeks	50	54	91	110	174	150	162	159	170	177	108	146	180	221	182	201	250	131	144	94
# introduced in last two weeks	16	21	35	34	78	57	61	46	61	62	44	64	83	108	107	104	112	51	66	38
How bills fare after introduction
% that had at least one floor vote	79%	79%	79%	76%	75%	76%	78%	77%	78%	74%	80%	80%	76%	73%	77%	75%	75%	76%	79%	72%
% that failed in a floor vote	2.2%	2.3%	2.4%	2.0%	1.9%	2.4%	2.5%	2.8%	3.2%	2.1%	1.9%	2.0%	1.5%	2.3%	3.3%	2.1%	3.2%	2.2%	1.6%	3.9%
% that passed and were enrolled	58%	59%	64%	67%	64%	62%	70%	62%	64%	58%	66%	65%	68%	61%	65%	63%	62%	63%	61%	53%
% that passed a floor vote but died without a negative vote	19%	18%	12%	6%	8%	12%	5%	13%	11%	14%	12%	12%	7%	10%	8%	10%	10%	10%	16%	15%
Bills that came to a floor vote	577	586	554	541	585	584	581	606	646	609	649	650	643	609	589	611	695	706	753	734
Avg day of first vote	25.4	23.3	25.6	25.4	26.8	26.7	26.2	29.6	28.0	27.5	27.4	26.4	25.3	27.0	25.1	25.4	26.1	25.3	26.3	26.7
Avg age of bill at first vote	17.9	15.9	15.6	14.4	13.1	13.6	13.6	16.8	16.0	15.9	17.2	16.2	14.8	14.5	14.4	13.6	13.9	16.8	17.1	20.1
Bills that passed and were enrolled	423	436	450	481	504	478	524	484	528	475	535	533	574	510	502	513	575	591	582	540
Avg day of final passage	36.7	35.9	35.9	36.8	36.4	36.4	36.8	38.7	37.4	37.4	37.9	36.8	36.4	38.1	37.9	37.6	38.3	38.5	39.3	39.3
Avg age of bill when passed	30.0	28.7	26.3	26.0	23.2	24.2	24.4	26.4	26.4	27.7	28.4	26.9	26.1	25.8	27.5	26.4	26.9	29.9	31.3	33.1

Week-by-week analysis: Number of bills introduced

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026	Average
Week 1	392	410	339	309	272	285	292	326	345	376	371	392	405	347	361	355	385	484	489	587	376
Week 2	154	141	149	140	131	146	101	116	122	85	119	95	92	74	68	74	84	120	108	120	112
Week 3	73	60	64	77	85	90	90	77	107	76	102	91	91	105	85	97	111	90	113	134	91
Week 4	64	79	61	77	120	94	103	108	87	105	110	93	74	85	72	87	99	109	105	81	91
Week 5	34	33	56	76	96	93	101	113	109	115	64	82	97	113	75	97	138	80	78	56	85
Week 6	10	11	11	16	61	43	51	34	46	50	36	46	73	98	82	90	99	43	60	28	49
Week 7	6	10	24	18	17	14	10	12	15	12	8	18	10	10	25	14	13	8	6	10	13

Week-by-week analysis: Number of bills passed

	2007	2008	2009	2010	2011	2012	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	2021	2022	2023	2024	2025	2026	Average
Week 1	1	4	1	1	0	3	10	3	3	0	1	5	4	1	4	2	1	2	2	4	3
Week 2	14	10	23	15	28	29	13	12	10	15	10	16	36	28	15	17	14	15	12	11	17
Week 3	33	24	45	33	46	42	39	18	40	49	40	52	46	27	31	39	40	33	23	27	36
Week 4	35	54	44	53	55	38	55	37	51	25	49	58	45	31	41	33	35	33	35	22	41
Week 5	57	72	49	61	30	47	52	67	68	59	63	40	72	67	53	64	74	80	65	61	60
Week 6	69	96	76	104	103	84	95	71	79	71	71	76	64	55	53	68	48	63	67	71	74
Week 7	214	176	212	214	242	235	260	276	277	256	301	286	307	301	305	290	363	365	378	344	280