Barto, Lovas lead in percentage of bills signed into law

Republican Sen. Nancy Barto of Phoenix scored the highest legislative batting average of the year, with 65 percent of her 23 bills signed into law.

Barto was followed by Republican Rep. Phil Lovas of Peoria, who had 64 percent of his 11 bills signed into law, and Republican Sen. David Farnsworth of Mesa, who had 63 percent of his eight bills signed into law, the highest percentage of bills signed into law by a freshman lawmaker.

Republican Rep. Karen Fann of Prescott had the most bills signed into law this year, with 16.

She was followed closely by Barto, Republican Sen. Gail Griffin of Hereford and Republican Rep. John Kavanagh of Fountain Hills, each of whom had 15 bills signed.

Republican Rep. Brenda Barton and Republican Rep. Justin Pierce tied for the most bills vetoed  this year, with three each, but Barton had a much higher percentage of her bills vetoed than Pierce, with 21 percent of her sponsored bills nixed compared to Pierce’s 12 percent.

Eight Republicans didn’t have any bills signed into law this year: Reps. Paul Boyer of Phoenix, Adam

Kwasman of Oro Valley, Steve Montenegro of Litchfield Park, Bob Robson of Chandler, Carl Seel of Phoenix, Bob Thorpe of Flagstaff, Michelle Ugenti of Scottsdale and Sen. Michele Reagan of Scottsdale. Robson, however, did not introduce any bills this year.

Of the 278 bills signed into law this year, five were sponsored by Democrats. Democratic Reps. Juan Carlos Escamilla of Yuma, Stefanie Mach of Tucson and Catherine Miranda of Phoenix and Sens. Carlyle Begay of Tuba City and Barbara McGuire of Kearny each had one bill signed by Gov. Jan Brewer.