Adam R Brown

Representative David G. Butterfield
Utah legislator profile

Years served in the Utah legislature

How to read the statistical profile

I present a variety of statistics about Rep. David G. Butterfield's service in the Utah legislature. I highlight differences from chamber averages using little green and red arrows. The number of arrows is statistically determined. More arrows indicate a larger difference compared to the chamber average, in relation to how much diversity there is among legislators on this metric. If all legislators introduce exactly 5 bills, then a legislator who introduces 10 is very different; if legislators vary wildly in how many bills they introduce (but the average is still 5), then a legislator who introduces 10 bills may be less different from average. The standard deviation measures this diversity.

• / Three arrows mean that the legislator is significantly different from average (i.e. at least two standard deviations from the mean, placing the legislator in the top/bottom 2% or so).
• / Two arrows mean that the legislator is somewhat different from average (i.e. at least one standard deviation from the mean, placing the legislator in the top/bottom 16% or so).
• / One arrow indicates that the legislator is only slightly different from average (i.e. one-third standard deviation from the mean). A single arrow indicates a very small difference; don't make too much of it.
• == You will see an equals sign if the legislator is roughly average.

Rep. Butterfield's statistical profile

		2011	2012
Service summary. Service prior to 2007 (if any) is not shown here. My database goes back only to 2007.
	Legislative chamber	House	House
	District	H4	H4
	Party	R	R
	Leadership	None	None
		2011	2012
Bills sponsored (learn more) Bills written and promoted by the legislator in his/her own chamber.
	Introduced by Butterfield	1	5
	Chamber average	6.3	6.4
	Difference	-5.3	-1.4
	Comparison
		2011	2012
Bill passage rate (learn more). What percent of Rep. Butterfield's sponsored bills pass and are officially "enrolled"? (I ignore whether the governor signed or vetoted the bill.)
	Bills introduced	1	5
	Bills passed	na	1
	Passage rate	0.0%	20.0%
	Chamber average	55.0%	54.3%
	Difference	-55.0	-34.3
	Comparison
		2011	2012
Bills floor sponsored. A "floor sponsor" is like a secondary sponsor of a bill. After a bill passes the sponsor's chamber, its sponsor needs to find a "floor sponsor" in the other chamber to usher it through the other chamber.
	Total floor sponsored	5	1
	Chamber average	3.3	3.1
	Difference	+1.7	-2.1
	Comparison
		2011	2012
Missed votes (learn more). Usually missed votes occur because of competing obligations within the legislature, not because the legislator has left the capitol.
	Missed votes	36	43
	Total votes held	651	651
	Absentee rate	5.5%	6.6%
	Chamber average	7.1%	5.7%
	Difference	-1.6	+0.9
	Comparison	==	==
		2011	2012
"Nay" votes (learn more). Most floor votes pass by overwhelming majorities, since unpopular bills get weeded out long before they reach the floor. As a result, "nay" votes are rare.
	"Nay" votes	43	61
	Total votes held	651	651
	"Nay" rate	6.6%	9.4%
	Chamber average	8.4%	7.8%
	Difference	-1.8	+1.6
	Comparison
		2011	2012
Influence or "floor power" (learn more). What percentage of the time is the legislator on the winning side of a floor vote?
	Floor power score	79.8%	55.8%
	Chamber average	69.1%	67.5%
	Difference	+10.7	-11.7
	Comparison
		2011	2012
Interest group rating. Half a dozen interest groups release ratings of each legislator after each legislative session. I rescale them all from 0 (most liberal) to 100 (most conservative) and average them together, resulting in the numbers reported here.
	NOMINATE score	88.0	na
	Chamber average	68.5	na
	Difference	+19.5	na
	Comparison		na
		2011	2012
Ideology score (learn more). Using a widely accepted scaling method, I calculate each legislator's ideology score (called a "NOMINATE" score) after each legislative session. I describe the method here. Scores have no intrinsic meaning; they are useful only for comparing two legislators. A legislator with a higher score is more to the right ideologically of a legislator with a lower scale. In most years, a conservative Republican will have a score above 0; a score close to 100 is extreme.
	NOMINATE score	23.5	na
	Chamber average	0.9	na
	Difference	+22.6	na
	Comparison		na
		2011	2012
Party support score (overall) (learn more). How consistently does Rep. Butterfield support his/her party? That is, what percentage of the time does the legislator vote with the majority of the other members of his/her party? Scores are usually easily above 90%.
	Party support score (overall)	94.6%	90.3%
	Chamber average	93.7%	94.3%
	Difference	+0.9	-4.0
	Comparison	==
		2011	2012
Party support score (party-line only) (learn more). This is the same as the "raw" party support score, but we look only at party-line votes when calculating this. A "party-line" vote occurs when the majority of Democrats votes against the majority of Republicans. Although party-line votes are rare, looking at the legislator's party support score in this setting can be revealing.
	Party support score (party-line only)	85.9%	71.9%
	Chamber average	85.1%	82.7%
	Difference	+0.8	-10.8
	Comparison	==

Votes on Rep. Butterfield's bills

Only 2 bills sponsored by Rep. Butterfield have come to a vote. Listed below are all votes held on bills that Rep. Butterfield sponsored. The votes are sorted by vote margin, with the most divisive votes listed first.

Hi. My name is Adam Brown. How to contact me. I work at BYU, where I teach political science courses and do research. I got my PhD at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). All content and code ©2005-2013 Adam R Brown unless noted. Do not republish any material from this site anywhere else without permission. Featuring glorious hand-coded PHP and valid XHTML/CSS. This page last updated March 14th, 2012.. Want more scripture power?