Maryland lawmakers are getting greener, especially the Republicans.

That's the conclusion of the Maryland League of Conservation Voters in their annual report card on the performance of state senators and delegates. (The review the full report card, go to: http://www.mdlcv.org/)

The average score for a member of the House of Delegates jumped 13 percentage points (on a scale of 1 to 100) in the 2007 legislative session, compared to the 2006 session. The average score for senators rose 10 points.

Even more significant: Senate Republicans nearly tripled their scores, to 38 percent in 2007 compared to 13 percent in 2006.  And House Republicans nearly doubled their average scores, to 50 percent in 2007 from 26 percent the previous year. 

The League's executive director, Cindy Schwartz, noted that newly elected legislators had a pronounced tendency to vote greener this year.  Key legislation passed included the Clean Cars Act, which is designed to reduce air pollution from vehicles.

"We believe the high -- and greatly improved -- scores coming out of this year’s legislative session show the importance of the environment as an issue for legislators and the public," Schwartz said.  "...“We are also happy to note that our ‘Fabulous Freshmen’ stood out with above-average scores. This trend, combined with a marked improvement overall particularly for Republican Senators and Delegates is surely a good sign for the future of the environment in our state."

The highest scores (perfect 100 percent grades) went to: senators Britt, Brochin, Conway, Exum, Frosh, Lenett, Middleton, Pinsky, Raskin, Rosapepe, and Zirkin.  Perfect scores were also awarded to delegates Ali, Barkley, Barnes, Beidle, Bobo, Branch, Bronrott, Busch, Cane, Cardin, Carter, G. Clagett, V. Clagett, Conaway, Conway, Davis, Dumais, Frush, Gaines, Griffith, Gutierrez, Guzzone, Hammen, Haynes, Healey, Heller, Hixson, Holmes, Hubbard, James, Jones, Lafferty, Lawton, Lee, Levi, Manno, McIntosh, Montgomery, Morhaim, Niemann, Proctor, Ramirez, Robinson, Rosenberg, Sophocleus, Stein, Stukes, Valderrama, Waldstreicher.

Who scored the worst?  Receiving grades below 20 percent were senators Greenip, Harris, Hooper, Kittleman, Mooney, and delegates Bates, Miller, and Wood.