Legislative velocity

Velocity tells you whether a bill is moving faster or slower than its legislature's calendar.

How it's worked out#

A bill climbs a ladder of weighted milestones — introduction, committee, floor votes in each chamber, reconciliation, the executive's signature, and any override. Velocity compares how far up that ladder the bill has climbed with how much of the session has gone by:

velocity = ( share of the weighted ladder reached ) / ( share of the session elapsed )

The milestones come from the bill's dated history: the day it was introduced, referred to committee, passed each chamber (by a recorded vote or by voice or unanimous consent — a failed vote isn't a milestone) and reached the executive. A bill introduced on the very first day of a session has no session time behind it yet, so it has no velocity until it reaches a milestone on a later day.

Reading it#

• Above 1 — ahead of pace: progressing faster than the calendar.
• About 1 — on pace.
• Below 1 — lagging behind the calendar.

Where a bill sped up or stalled#

Velocity is also broken into segments — the pace between each pair of consecutive milestones — so you can see the step where a bill accelerated, or the committee where it sat.