Announcing the Release of the 82nd Oregon Legislative Assembly’s (2023-2024) and the 2023-2024 Washington Legislature’s State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES)
The Center for Effective Lawmaking (CEL) is proud to announce the release of our State Legislative Effectiveness Scores (SLES) for the 82nd Oregon Legislative Assembly and the 2023-2024 Washington Legislature legislative sessions. This initiative is part of our broader effort to measure the lawmaking effectiveness of individual legislators in all 99 state legislative chambers in the United States.
These scores capture lawmaking effectiveness by tracking the number of bills that legislators sponsor, how far those bills advance through the legislative process, and the substantive significance of the proposals.
With the release of Oregon and Washington our state-level data initiative continues to grow—building on earlier reports from Montana and Georgia. Additional states will be added in the coming months as we work toward full national coverage.
Highlights from the Oregon and Washington SLES (2023–2024)
- Top Performers: We identify the top 10 and top 5 most effective lawmakers across both parties and chambers in both states, including legislators who have consistently ranked as highly effective lawmakers across multiple legislative sessions.
- Above Expectations: We highlight legislators who earned our prestigious Above Expectations designation for lawmaking effectiveness, including both experienced legislators with sustained records and first-term lawmakers who quickly distinguished themselves among their peers.
- Majority Party Advantage: Consistent with CEL research, majority-party legislators were generally more effective lawmakers, reflecting structural advantages such as agenda-setting power and committee leadership.
- Oregon Findings: In terms of broader patterns, consistent with a majority-party advantage in most states, a pattern of partisan lawmaking is evident in Oregon. The SLES of minority-party lawmakers across the country on the whole averages about 0.60, which is identical to the average scores in 2023-24 for minority-party Republicans in the Oregon House of Representatives. Minority-party scores in the Senate are somewhat higher at an average value of 0.69.Coupled with more Democratic seats controlled in both chambers and a Democratic governor, these patterns follow through into whose bills become law. Specifically, 189 laws resulted from the bills sponsored by majority-party Democrats in the House of Representatives in 2023-24 compared to only 52 laws from the bills sponsored by Republican lawmakers in the House. A similar imbalance occurred in the Senate, with only 32 laws from the bills of Republicans compared to 118 from majority-party Democrats. Yet, these balances are not significantly out of proportion with those found in other states with unified one-party governance.
- Washington Findings: In terms of broader patterns, our data show that the Washington State Legislature achieves a greater balance in lawmaking effectiveness across parties than is found in most states across the country. While the SLES of minority-party lawmakers across the country on the whole averages about 0.60, the average scores in 2023-24 for minority-party Republicans in the Washington House of Representatives are somewhat higher at 0.66 and in the Senate at an average value of 0.76. Such egalitarianism translates reasonably well into the number of laws produced by the parties. Although 267 laws resulted from the bills sponsored by majority-party Democratic Senators in 2023-24, bills sponsored by Republican Senators resulted in 116 laws across the term. A bit more of an imbalance occurred in the House, with 115 laws from the bills of Republicans compared to 348 from majority-party Democrats. However, the overall pattern is indicative that both parties were active and effective in the lawmaking process despite unified Democratic governance in the state.
You can explore the full report and detailed findings below:
Photo by M.O. Stevens, Wikipedia
