Which legislators speak the most in California’s legislation

From Ryan Sabalow and Omar RashadCalmness

This story was originally published by CalmattersS Register about their ballots.

Most California legislators like to speak, but some hardly say the word.

Since the legislative session began in December, the average legislator has been talking 6.3 hours. But eight legislators have talked about an hour or less – six of them Republicans who are the super -enlinnette in the legislature, according to an analysis of the digital democracy of Salmatters.

The quiet Republicans include a trio of Orange County and North Senator. The other two quiet Republicans are racing assembly regions in the Internal Empire. A pair of democratic assemblies – one of the San Joaquin Valley, the other representing the Chino area – also maintain their thoughts most for themselves this year.

“I am not wasting time for performative policy”, Republican County of Orange Kate Sanchez said in an email statement. “If more of my colleagues did the same, we would have had much more productive conversations in Capitol.”

Sanchez has been talking about a little more than an hour so far this year. Many of Its remarks were on her short -term account This has tried to prevent transsexual students from participating in an inter -shirting sports team for girls.

The striking differences in speaking are found in Calmatters Database of digital democracywho follows every word spoken during public hearing in California’s legislation.

But is there equal efficiency? Not necessarily.

The analysis of digital democracy did not find a connection between the speaking time and whether the legislator’s bills were signed in the law during the last two -year session.

This does not surprise Tad Kusser, a former legislative employee and Professor of Political Science at UC San DiegoS

“This child who always has hands in class may not always be what everyone listens to,” Kuser said.

Does speaking make MPs effective?

Instead, it seems that success is the most for the types of bills that legislators introduce, not how much they talk about them. Legislators from both sides who regularly authors contradictory legislation is less likely to see their pass, no matter how much they talk about them.

Personalities and relationships with colleagues also matter.
One example: Bill EsailiA Republican of a fiery brand representing the Crown area often speaks critically about the Democrats in speeches, which made it the eighth most favorable among the 26 Republicans last session.

None of its accounts passed. Like his fiery speeches on the floor, many Esayli bills were intended to score points with his republican base. Democrats who control the legislature I killed them with maliceEven the few who were not particularly controversial.

For comparison, Sen. Megan FarRepresenting the region of Reading, it had the greatest success of the bill among the Republicans, although it was the third member of the legislative power last session.

Members of both countries as far away. Her accounts They are also inclined not to be particularly contradictory. They usually focus on local issues important to its voters.

But this does not mean that speaking is not an important political consideration for legislators, Kuser said.

“No legislator is convinced to vote yes on a bill because of a floor speech,” he said. “Speech on the floor does not change people’s opinion of a bill; It changes people’s opinion of a legislator. Who is this person? What is standing? ”

Example: Democrats may have killed all Esayli bills, but his speeches critical of the Democrats have created a steady flow of social media and news videos that attracted the attention of those in the orbit of President Donald Trump. This spring Essayli left the legislature after the Prosecutor General of Trump, Pam Bondi, Make an essay of the temporary American lawyer For Los Angeles.

Freen’s quiet legislator says it is effective

Fresh Democratic Assembly Joaquin Arambula He spoke so far 55 minutes this year and it was significantly bigger than the last session was.

But he disputed whether the speaking percentage is an accurate reflection of his involvement and impact in the legislature.

“The original number of words spoken means very little to me, as I think you can overcome more with less words and be just as effective as those who speak more,” said Arambula in an interview with Calmatters reporting partner, Freenland. “So I do not at all put weight or validity to that number.”

Arambula said he had avoided not to engage less in the legislature after President Robert Rivas it was removed from the Assembly Health CommitteeS Emperor had discussed Challenging Riva for the leadership headquarters. Arambula, Emergency Department, has applied to Run for a place on Freen Municipal Council In 2026

Arambula said speaking is less important than what legislators do for their communities.

“I am responsible to make sure that our community is well represented,” Arambula said. “I believe you do this most effectively by returning resources.”

Arambula said he played a key role, despite the difficult budget year, in the government. Gavin Newsom including $ 100 million For infrastructure in the center of Freshno and Chinatown as part of a $ 300 million commitment. Newsom stopped state funding for the city’s infrastructure last year.

“No one else was able to return resources for their community, as we do,” Arambula said.

Quiet legislators inaccessible to interviews

It may not be surprising that the other quiet legislators either did not respond to interview requests, or their speakers responded with email statements.

Republican Assembly Greg WallisWho won his place in the Assembly of the Internal Empire in 2022 with one of the smallest boundaries in the history of the state, has since been silent on the daisy. So far this year he has been talking 38 minutes.

“I like the irony to chase the quiet interview assemblies,” Wallis spokesman Colin Holes said in an email. “Greg is related to sequence, so in this case he chooses to keep his words a little and let his voices speak.”

The most silent is Seni. FarS She has only been talking seven minutes so far this year. Never especially chat in the daisy to start, far away stroke at the end of 2023S It is already difficult for her to form words so that she is most quiet.

After taking his free time to recover, he had a short speech on the floor last August while he was still a member of the assembly.

“Talking is hard but I do it” she saidwhile he is struggling with tears.

This year, much of the seven minutes Dahle spoke were on the Senate floor during another emotional speech Support to resolve stroke.

In an email statement, she said there was “so much more time to listen and to distinguish what is good for my voters in a northern country and what is not” when she does not speak hearing.

She said she was still struggling on issues such as wolf attacks against livestock, illegal growing marijuana and water supply to the state.

Assembly Michel RodriguezElected last year to represent the Chino area, it only spoke in 34 minutes. A spokesman said she was too busy for a phone interview last week while the session was on a summer vacation.

Auxiliary Leticia CastilloA republican of a crown, who has been talking for 52 minutes since she won her place last year, has not returned messages.

Speakers of the Republicans of Orange County Threethat speaks for 65 minutes and Philip Chen Whoever talks about 28 also did not return requests for an interview.

The former democratic senator of a hundredth in the Susan Talamantes Egman region, who was called from the legislature last year, said some of the most convincing MPs are those who provide thoughtful comments at the right time instead of bumping throughout.

“If you just talk in words, you’ll quickly get eye rolls and people move away,” she said. “People don’t listen if you just talk.”

Thomas Gerrit and Foad Joshud to Digital Democracy have contributed to this story.

This article was Originally Published on CalMatters and was reissued under Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Noderivatives License.