Republican-sponsored bills were enacted more than any other type of legislation.
MIDDLETON, Wis., Sept. 9, 2024 -- Ballotpedia, the encyclopedia of American politics, and BillTrack50, the search engine for democracy, today announced their latest joint project, The State Legislative Decade: State legislatures, partisanship, and enacted legislation from 2011-2024.
The State Legislative Decade is based on a dataset of 243,529 bills passed across all 50 states, and reveals insights into partisan politics and bill sponsorship, trends in state government trifectas, and breakdowns of how much legislation each state passes. The dataset reveals shifts in state legislative behavior such as productivity, willingness to work across party lines, and the makeup of each legislature change over the years.
Key takeaways from the report include:
- Legislative sessions in 2020 saw 19.5% fewer bills enacted than other even years with complete data in this dataset - a representation of the impact that COVID-19 had on legislative activity. In total, 56.8% of all bills were passed in odd years.
- The share of Republican-sponsored bills enacted in states where Republicans controlled state government increased by 12.9% between 2015 and 2023.
- 56.7% of legislation during this time period was passed in odd years vs. even years.
- Overall, Democrats passed 2% more partisan bills (as a share of all bills enacted) while they were the minority party in legislatures than Republicans who were in the minority party.
- Republicans sponsored 8% more partisan bills in states with a divided government.
- Two states (Texas and Tennessee) passed more than 1,000 bills per session year, while seven passed less than 100.
The report benefits researchers and interested citizens while providing association and nonprofit executives an edge in understanding the impact of legislation. It includes an analysis of trends in the number of bills adopted in each state and the partisan sponsorship of each bill.
For more variables affecting the number of bills adopted in each state, and to view the full report, data visualizations, and more analysis, click here.
About Ballotpedia
Ballotpedia, the encyclopedia of American politics, is the nation's most trusted source of unbiased information on politics, elections, and policy. Founded in 2007, Ballotpedia has grown from a small group of dedicated volunteers working on a handful of ballot measures to an essential resource for voters, media, and researchers. Ballotpedia is a nonprofit organization dedicated to serving the public interest in creating an educated, engaged electorate, and building a strong, healthy democracy. For free access to 520,000+ encyclopedic, professionally authored, and curated articles, visit Ballotpedia.org.
About BillTrack50
BillTrack50, the search engine for democracy, offers free tools for citizens to easily research legislators and bills across all 50 states and Congress. BillTrack50 also offers professional tools to help organizations with ongoing legislative and regulatory tracking, as well as easy ways to share information both internally and with the public.
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