Colorado

How successful is your state House representative at getting his or her bills through the legislature? After careful calculation, Colorado Confidential presents the 10 most successful representives of the first half of the 2007 legislative session.

More after the jump…

These House members have had the most success getting their bills through the legislature, but that doesn’t mean the bills were the most influential. Some had strong bipartisan support and others were little more than formalities. More so than in the Senate, representatives racked up the majority of their points by sponsoring, not co-sponsoring, successful bills. With fewer bills in the Senate and more House members, the task of co-sponsoring was spread thinner in the House.

Rep. Mike Cerbo (D-Denver) was catapulted into the number one spot by two governor signatures and no killed bills. Rep. Anne McGihon (D-Denver) scored well partly because she introduced 12 bills – more than any other lawmaker. An impressive eight of those passed the House floor, but just one had made it through the Senate as of the cutoff date. 

House Majority Leader Alice Madden (D-Boulder) comes in just behind McGihon. Madden introduced only four bills, but three of those passed both chambers and one was signed by Gov. Ritter. While Madden sponsored bills sparingly, the ones she chose were relatively high-profile compared to those of some others who made the top 10. Her bills included HB 1253, which prohibits insurance companies from denying health coverage based on military membership, and HB 1330, which would legalize second-parent adoption.

Freshman Rep. Sara Gagliardi (D-Arvada) had a good start with seven of the eight bills she sponsored passing in the House. Gagliardi asked  a committee to kill the eighth bill, which would have created a junk mail opt-out list.

Three Republicans make our list in the House, unlike in the Senate where only one GOP lawmaker cracked the top 10.  Jim Kerr of Jefferson County scored big as a sponsor with one bill getting Gov. Ritter’s signature and two more waiting on his desk. Kerr’s bills were boosted by bipartisan support – all six were co-sponsored by Democrats in the House. Teamwork worked well for Al White (R-Winter Park), too. All eight of his bills were co-sponsored by Democrats.

Check back Tuesday for our lists of the least successful legislators and throughout the week for more coverage of our midterm legislative scorecard.

Further reading in this series:
Colorado’s Ten Most Successful Senators
Pass/Fail: A Mid-Term Report Card of Colorado’s State Legislators

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