12 May 2009

Political party tagged data set of 2009 MT legislature’s floor votes

Wondering how many Democrats voted “Yes” on the final vote on HB-468, Rep. Mike Jopek’s bill to mitigate the impact of rising assessments on property tax bills (see Jopek’s commentary on the legislature’s failure on this issue)? You’ll need a data set of floor votes that identifies each legislator’s political party and Zip Code. Go to http://data.opi.mt.gov/bills/2009/reports/ for the official data set of floor votes sans party information. But if you need a data set that includes information on political parties, Zip Codes, and legislative districts, you’ll want to download Flathead Memo’s Extended Legislative Floor Votes Data Set.

So, how many Democrats voted for the final version of HB-658? Twenty-five, 14 in the house and 11 in the senate. Almost all were from eastern Montana. The list of Republicans — most from western Montana — who voted against the final bill is below.