2009 Legislative Report Card for Arizona’s Forty-ninth Legislature, First Regular Session

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Executive Summary

The annual Goldwater Institute Legislative Report Card considers how well Arizona legislators are fulfilling their constitutional obligation to uphold liberty. The report scores legislators on 305 votes across four categories: education, constitutional government, regulation, and tax and budget. The primary criterion is whether a vote for or against each bill expands or restricts liberty.

Specifically, education bills that give parents more choice, make public schools more accountable and competitive, expand the teaching pool through relaxed certification requirements, and encourage local control of schools are scored a +1.

In the constitutional government category, legislation that repeals and restricts government programs that lie outside the government’s constitutional duties, decentralizes authority, or allows people to govern themselves is scored positively.

In regulation, legislation that adds to regulation or licensing schemes on private business received a -1. Legislation that removes regulation and fosters a free economy received a +1.

Bills in the tax and budget category were scored a +1 if they reduced the tax burden, made government expenditures more transparent, or restrained government spending, while bills that increased government spending, created industry-specific incentives, or otherwise increased taxes received a -1.

Each legislator’s voting record was examined according to those criteria, and points were tallied into final percentage scores and letter grades that indicate how consistently each legislator adheres to the principles of limited government enshrined in the U.S. and Arizona Constitutions.

The report’s broad scope and intuitive grading scale bring transparency to the legislature’s work, sorting through the more than 1,200 bills, memorials, and resolutions introduced this session, to help citizens objectively determine whether their elected representatives are serving the interests of liberty.

Scores for the Forty-ninth Arizona Legislature remain around the 50 percent mark, indicating a near equal amount of votes that undermined liberty as upheld it. While legislators with the highest scores received a letter grade of A, it should be remembered that this rating represents a percentage score of 80, leaving much room for improvement. Likewise, these scores illustrate legislators’ relative commitment to liberty. They are not absolute measures of a legislator’s merit, and do not constitute any endorsement.

Read the 2009 Legislative Report Card here