Return to the Guide to the Utah Legislature.
| First session in legislature: | 2017 |
| Most recent year of service for which data are available: | 2020 |
| Total sessions served in Utah House as of 2020: | 4 |
| Total sessions served in Utah Senate as of 2020: | 0 |
I present a variety of statistics about Rep. Val K. Potter'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.| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | ||
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| Service summary. Service prior to 2007 (if any) is not shown here. My database goes back only to 2007. | |||||
| Chamber | House | House | House | House | |
| District | H3 | H3 | H3 | H3 | |
| Party | R | R | R | R | |
| Leadership | None | None | None | None | |
| Years in chamber | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | |
| Years comparison | | | | |
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| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | ||
| Bills sponsored (learn more) Bills written and promoted by the legislator in his/her own chamber. | |||||
| Introduced by Potter | 2 | 8 | 5 | 5 | |
| Chamber average | 6.7 | 7.1 | 7.3 | 7.3 | |
| Difference | -4.7 | +0.9 | -2.3 | -2.3 | |
| Comparison | | == | | |
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| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | ||
| Bill passage rate (learn more). What percent of Rep. Potter's sponsored bills pass and are officially "enrolled"? (I ignore whether the governor signed or vetoted the bill.) | |||||
| Bills introduced | 2 | 8 | 5 | 5 | |
| Bills passed | 1 | 6 | 4 | 3 | |
| Passage rate | 50% | 75% | 80% | 60% | |
| Chamber average | 61% | 53% | 63% | 58% | |
| Difference | -11.4 | +22 | +17 | +2.4 | |
| Comparison | | | | == | |
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | ||
| 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 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 2 | |
| Chamber average | 3.6 | 3.4 | 3.4 | 3.1 | |
| Difference | -0.6 | -0.4 | +0.6 | -1.1 | |
| Comparison | == | == | == | |
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| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | ||
| 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 | 3 | 15 | 34 | 22 | |
| Total votes held | 727 | 734 | 752 | 698 | |
| Absentee rate | 0.4% | 2.0% | 4.5% | 3.2% | |
| Chamber average | 5.2% | 8.0% | 6.4% | 7.1% | |
| Difference | -4.8 | -6.0 | -1.9 | -3.9 | |
| Comparison | | | == | |
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| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | ||
| "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 | 32 | 32 | 32 | 46 | |
| Total votes held | 727 | 734 | 752 | 698 | |
| "Nay" rate | 4.4% | 4.4% | 4.3% | 6.6% | |
| Chamber average | 7.1% | 6.5% | 6.5% | 7.0% | |
| Difference | -2.7 | -2.1 | -2.2 | -0.4 | |
| Comparison | | | | == | |
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | ||
| 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 | 80% | 89% | 84% | 71% | |
| Chamber average | 67% | 66% | 68% | 67% | |
| Difference | +13 | +22 | +16 | +4.4 | |
| Comparison | | | | |
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| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | ||
| 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. | |||||
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | ||
| Party support score (overall) (learn more). How consistently does Rep. Potter 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% | 97% | 96% | 95% | |
| Chamber average | 95% | 94% | 95% | 95% | |
| Difference | +1.4 | +3.6 | +0.8 | -0.3 | |
| Comparison | | == | | == | |
| 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | ||
| 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) | 83% | 80% | 79% | 76% | |
| Chamber average | 87% | 83% | 85% | 83% | |
| Difference | -3.9 | -3.0 | -5.6 | -7.3 | |
| Comparison | | == | | |
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Only 16 bills sponsored by Rep. Potter have come to a vote. Listed below are all votes held on bills that Rep. Potter 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | Potter | HB0233S05 | 49 | 19 | 44% | House/ passed 3rd reading |
| 2018 | Potter | HB0233S05 | 55 | 12 | 64% | House/ concurs with Senate amendment |
| 2019 | Potter | HB0381S01 | 62 | 8 | 77% | House/ concurs with Senate amendment |
| 2019 | Potter | HB0381S01 | 65 | 6 | 83% | House/ passed 3rd reading |
| 2018 | Potter | HB0233S05 | 26 | 2 | 86% | Senate/ passed 3rd reading |
| 2018 | Potter | HB0233S05 | 23 | 1 | 92% | Senate/ passed 2nd reading |
| 2017 | Potter | HB0174 | 63 | 1 | 97% | House/ passed 3rd reading |
| 2018 | Potter | HB0349 | 70 | 1 | 97% | House/ passed 3rd reading |
| 2020 | Potter | HCR004 | 70 | 0 | 100% | House/ passed 3rd reading |
| 2020 | Potter | HB0344S01 | 25 | 0 | 100% | Senate/ passed 2nd & 3rd readings/ suspension |
