2011 HJTA Legislative Report Card

Our report card is designed to help Californians gauge how their state representatives are actually performing on taxpayer-related issues.

The 2011 scores stem from 22 bills. This year we double-weighted two bills: ABX1 40 and Assembly Constitutional Amendment 6, as they represented a tax increase and a threat to Proposition 13 and the initiative process, respectively. Also for the first time, we did not give a score to a legislator. Since March, State Assemblyman Jeff Gorell (R-Ventura) has been serving our country overseas in Afghanistan and was unable to vote on many legislative bills.

For this evaluation to be as fair and non-partisan as possible, we have taken a number of steps to ensure that the scorecard is balanced. We adjusted our grade levels downward to ensure a legislator gets a "C” grade if they agree with the taxpayers' positions more than half the time. Despite this, 76 legislators still received grades of "D" or "F." And, as has been our practice, we have given half-credit for all vote abstentions on bills. As legislators are constantly buffeted by special interests and their own leadership, we want to ensure that those who don't vote for bills that increase government spending are rewarded accordingly.

For any additional questions about our methodology and scoring system, please email Legislative Director David Wolfe at: david@hjta.org

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NOTE:
The final Floor votes for SB 116 are included as that was the Senate Floor version of ABX1 40 (tax reform).

Floor votes for Assembly Constitutional Amendment 6 & AB X1 40/SB 116 were double-weighted.

All votes for SB 202 are included since HJTA opposed both versions of this bill.

Only the final votes for SB 922, AB 101 & AB 1019 are included as these were gut-and-amend proposals.

*Assembly Member Jeff Gorell did not receive a grade due to his faithfully serving our country overseas.