Kansas legislative scorecards and rankings

Kansans need to know the true voting record of members of the legislature. Legislative scorecards or ratings can be a valuable resource for learning about the actions and record of legislators. These ratings are valuable because they record what a legislator actually does. Sometimes that’s different from what legislators say they do.

Producing a meaningful rating is not a simple matter. You need to find votes that discriminate between political positions, as including a bill where the vote was 115 to 3 provides little discriminative value. Sometimes there are procedural votes leading up to final passage, and it may be these somewhat obscure votes that provide the ability to meaningfully distinguish political positions.

Through the 2008 legislative session, Karl Peterjohn of the Kansas Taxpayers Network produced scorecards. After Peterjohn was elected to the Sedgwick County Commission in 2008, KTN merged with the Kansas Chapter of Americans For Prosperity. AFP produced ratings for the 2009 session.

A related project is my Kansas Economic Freedom Index.

Following are the scorecards for recent sessions.

Kansas Senate

Kansas Senate Legislative Scorecard 2009
Kansas Senate Legislative Scorecard 2008
Kansas Senate Legislative Scorecard 2007
Kansas Senate Legislative Scorecard 2005
Kansas Senate Legislative Scorecard 2004
Kansas Senate Legislative Scorecard 2003
Kansas Senate Legislative Scorecard 2001
Kansas Senate Legislative Scorecard 2000
Kansas Senate Legislative Scorecard 1999
Kansas Senate Legislative Scorecard 1998
Kansas Senate Legislative Scorecard 1997
Kansas Senate Legislative Scorecard 1996

Kansas House of Representatives

Kansas House Legislative Scorecard 2009
Kansas House Legislative Scorecard 2008
Kansas House Legislative Scorecard 2007
Kansas House Legislative Scorecard 2005
Kansas House Legislative Scorecard 2004
Kansas House Legislative Scorecard 2003
Kansas House Legislative Scorecard 2001
Kansas House Legislative Scorecard 2000
Kansas House Legislative Scorecard 1999
Kansas House Legislative Scorecard 1998
Kansas House Legislative Scorecard 1997
Kansas House Legislative Scorecard 1996