House of Representative Scorecard
Senate Scorecard

The 2000 Legislative Session threatens to dismantle the safety net of our environmental and public health protections in Florida through the most radical barrage of anti-environmental bills ever filed in the Florida Legislature.  Because of the seriousness of these threats and the relative ease with which more than a dozen bad bills are being passed through the legislative process, FLCV has published this first-ever  "Mid-Session Environmental Scorecard."   Usually, FLCV's comprehensive legislative scorecard tabulates the scores at the end of each session to compare who did well throughout the entire session, and whose record was worse for sponsoring and voting for anti-environmental legislation.

    Through week six of the nine-week session (March 7-May 5), dozens of legislators have earned a voting score of "zero" since they have voted against the environment on all major bills we rated so far.  (FLCV does not rate the legislators-we rate the legislation.  Legislators earn their own scores by the votes they cast and the legislation they sponsor.)  Several other environmental bills and additional amendments may adjust some scores upward when the session's final scorecard is tabulated this summer.  

    Eleven senators and Forty-four representatives have voted WRONG in every committee where they've had a chance to vote so far on these major bills ("zero").  By contrast, twelve senators and four representatives have voted 100% correct so far.  (No entry beside a legislator's name means there was no vote by that person).  

    Each bill is rated on a scale of "one" to "three" depending on overall impact to the environment or to overall environmental policy.   While 69 legislators had not yet voted on these bills by April 18,  most of them did earn points (or demerits) for sponsoring or co-sponsoring bills and/or amendments which would impact the environment:  In addition to the voting percentage, FLCV analyzes and records the "sponsorships" of each legislator for the bills, amendments and extraordinary motions (e.g., motion to reconsider, etc.).  Co-sponsors receive one-half the points earned by the prime sponsors on good/ bad bills. (i.e., If a bill is rated "3," all co-sponsors earn 1.5 points for co-sponsoring the bill).  The net sponsorship points (pro-environment sponsorships minus the anti-environment sponsorships) are then added to or subtracted from the voting percentage as bonus points or extra credit.  The total is the final score.    The FLCV scoring methodology was developed in consultation with the Florida State University Statistical Consulting Center and has been used consistently since 1992.

    In all, this Mid-Session Scorecard tabulated nearly three hundred votes on thirty-four recorded "roll call" votes concerning 19 bills, only three roll calls on amendments and one "motion to reconsider"; the sponsorship scores acknowledged 264 individual sponsorships of bills and amendments by nearly all  legislators.  

    The Florida League of Conservation Voters is a twenty-five year old environmental watchdog organization.  For more information on FLCV, visit our website at www.FloridaLCV.org.

     Nancy Brown, President  and  Dan Hendrickson, Vice  President      April 24, 2000