Return to the Guide to the Utah Legislature.
First session in legislature: | 2023 |
Most recent year of service for which data are available: | 2024 |
Total sessions served in Utah House as of 2024: | 2 |
Total sessions served in Utah Senate as of 2024: | 0 |
I present a variety of statistics about Rep. Thomas Peterson'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.
2023 | 2024 | ||
---|---|---|---|
Service summary. Service prior to 2007 (if any) is not shown here. My database goes back only to 2007. | |||
Chamber | House | House | |
District | H1 | H1 | |
Party | R | R | |
Leadership | None | None | |
Years in chamber | 1 | 2 | |
Years comparison | |||
2023 | 2024 | ||
Bills sponsored (learn more) Bills written and promoted by the legislator in his/her own chamber. | |||
Introduced by Peterson | 3 | 10 | |
Chamber average | 8.1 | 8.5 | |
Difference | -5.1 | +1.5 | |
Comparison | |||
2023 | 2024 | ||
Bill passage rate (learn more). What percent of Rep. Peterson's sponsored bills pass and are officially "enrolled"? (I ignore whether the governor signed or vetoted the bill.) | |||
Bills introduced | 3 | 10 | |
Bills passed | 2 | 5 | |
Passage rate | 67% | 50% | |
Chamber average | 56% | 56% | |
Difference | +11 | -6.3 | |
Comparison | == | ||
2023 | 2024 | ||
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 | 1 | 5 | |
Chamber average | 3.5 | 3.3 | |
Difference | -2.5 | +1.7 | |
Comparison | |||
2023 | 2024 | ||
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 | 22 | 3 | |
Total votes held | 803 | 845 | |
Absentee rate | 2.7% | 0.4% | |
Chamber average | 6.4% | 6.8% | |
Difference | -3.7 | -6.4 | |
Comparison | |||
2023 | 2024 | ||
"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 | 42 | 29 | |
Total votes held | 803 | 845 | |
"Nay" rate | 5.2% | 3.4% | |
Chamber average | 7.1% | 5.7% | |
Difference | -1.9 | -2.3 | |
Comparison | |||
2023 | 2024 | ||
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 | 85% | 85% | |
Chamber average | 69% | 68% | |
Difference | +15 | +18 | |
Comparison | |||
2023 | 2024 | ||
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. | |||
2023 | 2024 | ||
Party support score (overall) (learn more). How consistently does Rep. Peterson 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) | 97% | 98% | |
Chamber average | 96% | 96% | |
Difference | +1.5 | +2.0 | |
Comparison | |||
2023 | 2024 | ||
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) | 93% | 94% | |
Chamber average | 88% | 87% | |
Difference | +5.0 | +6.9 | |
Comparison |
Only 9 bills sponsored by Rep. Peterson have come to a vote. Listed below are all votes held on bills that Rep. Peterson 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 |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
2024 | Peterson | HB0047S02 | 16 | 11 | 19% | Senate/ passed 2nd reading |
2024 | Peterson | HB0047S02 | 10 | 18 | 29% | Senate/ failed |
2023 | Peterson | HB0409S01 | 21 | 1 | 91% | Senate/ passed 2nd reading |
2024 | Peterson | HB0537S01 | 25 | 0 | 100% | Senate/ passed 2nd & 3rd readings/ suspension |
2024 | Peterson | HB0537S01 | 69 | 0 | 100% | House/ passed 3rd reading |
2024 | Peterson | HB0518S02 | 71 | 0 | 100% | House/ concurs with Senate amendment |
2024 | Peterson | HB0518S02 | 26 | 0 | 100% | Senate/ passed 2nd & 3rd readings/ suspension |
2024 | Peterson | HB0518S02 | 72 | 0 | 100% | House/ passed 3rd reading |
2024 | Peterson | HB0309S02 | 70 | 0 | 100% | House/ passed 3rd reading |
2024 | Peterson | HB0206 | 23 | 0 | 100% | Senate/ passed 3rd reading |