19th Knesset passed 94 laws in its first year

MKs submitted 2,200 bills in the past year and only 94 passed as law; 3 new Meretz MKs proposed most bills.

By LAHAV HARKOV
Knesset MKs at plenum 370 (photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
Knesset MKs at plenum 370
(photo credit: Marc Israel Sellem/The Jerusalem Post)
The 19th Knesset marked its first birthday this month, and the Open Knesset website marked the occasion by examining what the 48 freshman MKs accomplished in their year as lawmakers.
MKs submitted 2,200 bills in the past year and only 94 passed as law, 64 of which were government initiatives and 30 private member bills.
Meretz’s three new MKs – Michal Rozin, Tamar Zandberg and Esawi Frej – proposed or signed the most bills, averaging at 200 each.
Hatnua’s two new MKs averaged 100 bills each, followed by Labor’s eight new lawmakers – with an average of 73 each. Yesh Atid’s 14 new MKs, not counting ministers, submitted or signed an average of 35 bills each.
Of all the legislators, MKs Uri Maklev (UTJ), Avraham Michaeli (Shas) and Dov Henin (Hadash) attended the most committee meetings, 21, 18 and 18 a month, on average, as opposed to the average for all MKs – which is 10 per month.
The new MKs with the best attendance in committee meetings are Elazar Stern (Hatnua) with an average of 17.47 per month, Shimon Ohayon (Yisrael Beytenu) at 16.65, Boaz Toporovsky (Yesh Atid) with 15.25, Miki Rosenthal (Labor) at 14.92, Michal Rozin (Meretz) with 14.84, Basel Ghattas (Balad) at 13.43 and Ayelet Shaked (Bayit Yehudi) with 11.79.
The Open Knesset website is run by The Workshop for Public Knowledge and works to make government data easily accessible to the public, in order to encourage accountability and open debate.