Fantasy Legislature update

Posted at 9:01 PM on December 20, 2006 by Bob Collins (8 Comments)

There doesn't appear to be a lot of opposition to our trying out the Fantasy Legislature concept that I first talked about upstream. I'm working on putting together a small Web site with rules (much of it I've already discussed) and a sign-up page. I hope to have it by the end of the week. I'm also building a spreadsheet to determine the point awards and standings. I hope to have that done by the end of the week.

What needs to happen now? You know, in a perfect world, I'd book the MPR Forum space for a "live" draft of legislators. You know, like the NBA. The "rookies" (that would ..at least this year... all 210 201 legislators) would be there, waiting to be chosen. And the commissioner would announce each selection, the lawmaker would bound onto the stage to hold up a jersey and get a cap from the team, while the undrafted legislators hope they don't slip much further. It would be Webcast to the world.

But, of course, that's my fantasy.

Instead, I think what we'll do is just have everyone submitted a draft list of legislators 1-201 (or, 1-whatever) and I'll get them on the living room floor, flip some coins to determine an initial draft order, and make the teams based on what you submit. We don't have a lot of time to get this thing going, we're doing it on the cheap this year, and so we need to have the teams all selected by next week.

So, what do you need to do:

-1- Decide if you want to play. We need at least 20 teams. If we get more than that -- significantly more than that -- we'll just break it up into various leagues . Theoretically, we could have leagues of individual offices where people all enter a team. But let's not get ahead of ourselves.

-2- Determine a team name. Make it good.

-3- Write down (prefereable in electronic form) a draft list of lawmakers. You can get the House roster here and the Senate roster here. Don't submit it yet, though, but keep monitoring mpr.org and Polinaut for the go ahead.

-4- Spread the word. I think we had about 14 people here who said they were interested. I posted on Gather too but I haven't checked the feedback there. You know, if I taught a civics class in high school....

-5- Review the rules when they're posted.

-6- Plan on being involved and engaged during the season so it can be a competitive league.

What else?

Comments (8)

Do we pick separately from the House and Senate, or is the draft pool made up of 201 legislators? Are there any rules on how many from each house we have to pick?

Posted by MN Campaign Report | December 21, 2006 4:46 AM

Great idea . . . I'm in!

A few random ideas . . .

Require each team to have at least one "rookie" (newly elected) legislator. That would add an interesting twist and bring them into the discussion a little more.

Give more points if your legislator is the chief author and less points if they are a co-author (maybe scale it . . . i.e. the more co-authors, the less points awarded to each. That could be done by having a maximum number of points per bill that are distributed among the co-authors.).

I definately think there should be a gathering for the draft (if enough people could make it) - even if its just meeting for a beer and going around the table to make selections.

Cheers.

Posted by Steve | December 21, 2006 9:55 AM

This looks pretty thorough, Bob. I can't wait to see this in action!

Posted by Julia Schrenkler | December 21, 2006 10:14 AM

Here's what I've written so far:

Fantasy Legislature is an application for entertainment purposes that seeks to illuminate the activities of the Minnesota House and Senate, often beyond what is traditionally covered by mainstream media. It operates much like a fantasy baseball or football team, in which "teams" of players (legislators) are formed at the beginning of the season (session) and their performance earns individual points. Team standings are determined by the cumulative points earned over the course of the session by the lawmakers on a "team."

Team "managers" (that's you) can make player (legislator) moves during the session, but the total number of legislators on a team cannot exceed 6. during the season, managers are free to select undrafted lawmakers from the waiver pool, but if such a selection results in a team having more than 6 lawmakers on the team, an existing lawmaker on the team must be "cut" (i.e. thrown into the waiver pool). Managers may trade lawmakers to other teams, but in no case can a team's total roster exceed or be less than 6 lawmakers.

The roster can be any combination of House and Senate members totalling 6. In other words, you can pick 6 senators, 6 reps; 3 reps-3 sens, 2 reps-4sens. Your choice.

Scoring:

Teams are awarded points in individual categories as follows:

a. 1 point is awarded for each bill filed by a lawmaker at any point during the session beginning with bills filed on January 3, 2007. In the case of multiple sponsors of a bill, the point awarded to all lawmakers listed as sponsors.

b. 5 points is awarded to all sponsoring lawmakers if the bill is given a hearing in a legislative committee. A bill may be heard by multiple committees

c. 10 points is awarded to all sponsoring lawmakers of any bill that is passed by any committee. A bill may be passed by multiple committees.

d. 15 points is awarded to all legislators whose bill is sent to the House or Senate floor.

e. 20 points is awarded to all legislators whose bill is passed by the House or Senate.

f. 25 points is awarded if the legislation is passed by the "other chamber." However, if, during the course of consideration by the other chamber, the chamber's own version of a bill is substituted, no points are awarded.

g. 30 points are awarded for passage of a bill from a conference committee only if the number of the surviving legislation is identical to the originally filed bill.

h. 50 points are awarded if the bill is signed by the governor.

i. 100 points are awarded if a bill is vetoed by the governor, but overridden in the House.

Within this point system, the following rules apply:

a. No points are awarded to legislation that becomes part of an omnibus bill. Why? We can't figure out omnibus bills. Can anyone?

Bonus Scoring

1. At least once per month, the league commissioner will designate a "floor session-palooza" day. Any session occurring on that day will provide for bonus scoring opportunities. Each legislator will be awarded 1 point for a floor speech during the session if it pertains to particular legislation. Only 1 point will be awarded per "floor session-palooza" regardless of how many speeches a legislator gives. Points of order that include recognition of Miss McCarthy's 4th grade class in the gallery or an expression of "Happy Birthday" wishes to a fellow legislator are ineligible for bonus points.

2. If the governor reaches into the Legislature during a session to name one of your team-members a judge in county you've never heard of before, 2 points. One point if you've heard of the county before.

Standings calculations

1. Standings are calculated on the total points in all categories accumulated by a team.

Rosters

a. Each team should at all times have 5 lawmakers assigned to it.

b. The rosters are initially set through an entry draft held prior to the start of the legislative session.

c. Legislators who not drafted intially, go into a "waiver pool," and will be available to teams as free agents, providing a lawmaker is dropped from the team to make room for the free agent.

Transactions:

a. Teams accumulate points through the above system beginning on each Monday morning through all official legislative business on Friday at midnight.

b. There is a weekly "redraft" on Saturday. If a team wants to make any changes to their roster (through trades or free agent pick-ups), it submits the request at any time during the week and the changes will take effect on the subsequent Saturday.

c. Should more than one team desire to pick up the same legislator from the "waiver pool," the free agent will be awarded to the team with a lower record in the standings.

d. When a legislator is dropped from a team. His/her accumulated points remain with the team but no further points accumulated by the lawmaker will be credited to the team.

Administrative

a. Standings will be updated on a daily basis -- maybe.

b. A Web site will be created and will be the official source of Fantasy Legislature information. The official spreadsheet will be made available to managers. Maybe.

c. In the absence of a messaging system at this time (someday), managers are encouraged to provide an e-mail address so other managers can inquire about trades etc., (Hey, set up a G-mail account if it makes you nervous).

d. The determination of the commissioner will be final. Appeals will be considered providing they are submitted along with proof from legitimate sources, including official documents posted on the Minnesota House or Senate Web sites. Newspaper articles, TV news reports and public radio Web sites are also considered respectable. Any manager submitting a posting on a blog as official proof, will automatically lose 10 points and be subject to near constant ridicule.

e. In all matters of scoring and credit, the determining factor is the number of the bill. Should a bill be so amended that a sponsoring legislator no longer claims credit for the bill, well, too bad.

FAQ
(to be written)

Posted by Bob Collins | December 21, 2006 11:56 AM

Ok... this is looking good. Some points for clarification, and consideration-

For the bonus days - Why not allow cumulative points for multiple speaking? One point seems like a small amount for the bonus. Of course, I don't have the time or inclination to sit at the TV to track these points. Is there an official record of these speeches?

When does this season end? May? What about a special session?

Why not just use their Senate and House sites and Minnesota Democrats Exposed for determination of points, since news organizations are constantly wrong.

Posted by gml4 | December 21, 2006 12:49 PM

I don't think I can do multiple points on bonus days because I'm not sure I can follow two chambers (I'm not sure I can follow 1 chamber) closely enough to be accurate.

The bosses seem pretty adamant that this not take up too much time. So much of this is proof of concept.

The end of the session (the official session) is the end of the season.

As for MDE. Umm. No.

Posted by Bob Collins | December 21, 2006 1:08 PM

Does "The end of the session (the official session) is the end of the season." mean that a potential special session will not be taken into account?

Posted by MR | December 21, 2006 4:41 PM

Yes, that's correct, the special session will not be part of the season.

Posted by Bob Collins | December 21, 2006 4:43 PM

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