Return to the Guide to the Utah Legislature.
| First session in legislature: | 2005 |
| Most recent year of service for which data are available: | 2012 |
| Total sessions served in Utah House as of 2012: | 2 |
| Total sessions served in Utah Senate as of 2012: | 6 |
I present a variety of statistics about Sen. Ross I. Romero'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.
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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.| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Service summary. Service prior to 2007 (if any) is not shown here. My database goes back only to 2007. | |||||||
| Chamber | Senate | Senate | Senate | Senate | Senate | Senate | |
| District | S7 | S7 | S7 | S7 | S7 | S7 | |
| Party | D | D | D | D | D | D | |
| Leadership | None | None | Whip | Whip | MinLdr | MinLdr | |
| Years in chamber | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | |
| Years comparison | | | | == | == | == | |
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | ||
| Bills sponsored (learn more) Bills written and promoted by the legislator in his/her own chamber. | |||||||
| Introduced by Romero | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 8 | |
| Chamber average | 9.6 | 9.8 | 9.0 | 8.9 | 11 | 9.8 | |
| Difference | -5.6 | -7.8 | -4.0 | -4.9 | -5.6 | -1.8 | |
| Comparison | | | | | | |
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| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | ||
| Bill passage rate (learn more). What percent of Sen. Romero's sponsored bills pass and are officially "enrolled"? (I ignore whether the governor signed or vetoted the bill.) | |||||||
| Bills introduced | 4 | 2 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 8 | |
| Bills passed | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | |
| Passage rate | 75% | 50% | 20% | 25% | 0.0% | 13% | |
| Chamber average | 63% | 68% | 63% | 69% | 70% | 72% | |
| Difference | +12 | -18.0 | -42.8 | -43.6 | -70.2 | -58.7 | |
| Comparison | | | | | | |
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| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 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 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 1 | 3 | |
| Chamber average | 12 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | |
| Difference | -6.6 | -8.5 | -9.1 | -8.0 | -10.4 | -8.8 | |
| Comparison | | | | | | |
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| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 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 | 6 | 6 | 3 | 39 | 71 | 28 | |
| Total votes held | 820 | 806 | 807 | 786 | 940 | 890 | |
| Absentee rate | 0.7% | 0.7% | 0.4% | 5.0% | 7.6% | 3.1% | |
| Chamber average | 8.9% | 9.6% | 11% | 12% | 14% | 9.9% | |
| Difference | -8.2 | -8.9 | -10.7 | -6.9 | -6.8 | -6.8 | |
| Comparison | | | | | | |
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| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 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 | 65 | 78 | 87 | 70 | 102 | 85 | |
| Total votes held | 820 | 806 | 807 | 786 | 940 | 890 | |
| "Nay" rate | 7.9% | 9.7% | 11% | 8.9% | 11% | 9.6% | |
| Chamber average | 4.1% | 4.1% | 4.1% | 4.6% | 3.4% | 4.8% | |
| Difference | +3.8 | +5.6 | +6.9 | +4.3 | +7.6 | +4.8 | |
| Comparison | | | | | | |
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| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | ||
| Winning side rate (learn more). What percentage of the time (excluding near-unanimous votes) is the legislator on the winning side of a floor vote? | |||||||
| Winning side rate | 48% | 33% | 33% | 40% | 19% | 42% | |
| Chamber average | 70% | 69% | 70% | 70% | 72% | 70% | |
| Difference | -22.3 | -35.8 | -36.7 | -30.2 | -53.1 | -28.2 | |
| Comparison | | | | | | |
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| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | ||
| Ideology score (NOMINATE method) (learn more). Using W-NOMINATE algorithm developed by Congressional scholars, I calculate each legislator's relative ideology after each General Session. I describe the method here. Scores have no intrinsic meaning. They are only relative: A legislator with a higher score is to the right ideologically of a legislator with a lower scale. Scores may be compared only within a single chamber and a single year. In most years, a conservative Republican will have a score above 0; a score close to 100 is extreme. | |||||||
| Contact me for scores. They get misinterpreted often enough that I now provide them only to political scientists. | |||||||
| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | ||
| Party support score (overall) (learn more). How consistently does Sen. Romero 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%. | |||||||
| Score (overall) | 96% | 96% | 96% | 97% | 96% | 97% | |
| Chamber average | 97% | 97% | 97% | 97% | 98% | 96% | |
| Difference | -1.0 | -1.6 | -1.3 | +0.2 | -2.3 | +0.9 | |
| Comparison | | | | == | | |
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| 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 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. | |||||||
| Score (party-line only) | 86% | 92% | 97% | 93% | 94% | 94% | |
| Chamber average | 83% | 85% | 89% | 89% | 91% | 88% | |
| Difference | +2.6 | +7.2 | +7.0 | +4.4 | +3.0 | +5.8 | |
| Comparison | == | | | | | |
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Only 16 bills sponsored by Sen. Romero have come to a vote. Listed below are all votes held on bills that Sen. Romero sponsored. The votes are sorted by vote margin, with the most divisive votes listed first.
| Year | Sponsor | Bill | Ayes | Nays | Margin (as % of total votes) |
Type of vote |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Romero | SB0059S01 | 14 | 15 | 3.4% | Senate/ failed |
| 2011 | Romero | SB0045 | 32 | 38 | 8.6% | House/ failed |
| 2010 | Romero | SB0113S01 | 38 | 31 | 10% | House/ passed 3rd reading |
| 2010 | Romero | SB0113S01 | 12 | 15 | 11% | Senate/ failed |
| 2010 | Romero | SB0128S01 | 11 | 14 | 12% | Senate/ failed |
| 2009 | Romero | SB0223 | 9 | 17 | 31% | Senate/ failed |
| 2012 | Romero | SB0128 | 19 | 9 | 36% | Senate/ passed 3rd reading |
| 2012 | Romero | SB0128 | 19 | 9 | 36% | Senate/ passed 2nd reading |
| 2010 | Romero | SB0113S01 | 19 | 8 | 41% | Senate/ passed 3rd reading |
| 2010 | Romero | SB0113S01 | 18 | 7 | 44% | Senate/ passed 3rd reading |
