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Katy Grimes

Last November the Globe reported on the the Center for Legislative Accountability’s annual California Lawmaker Scorecard, and as a surprise to no one, the California legislature earned a failing grade against other states’ conservative ratings.

The weakest issues for California state lawmakers are:

Taxes, Budget and Spending
Health Care
Welfare and Poverty
Education
Government Integrity and Transparency

Not much has changed except to get worse.

Now there is a new analysis of the California Legislature by the Institute for Legislative Analysis (ILA), which includes “the most comprehensive Governor and state lawmaker scorecard ever produced.” The ILA found “Democrats within the California state legislature vote in-line with the limited government principles of the U.S. Constitution a dismal 5.08% of the time – compared to the Republican average of 83.72%.”

The report is based on nearly 8,000 votes cast by lawmakers across 10 key policy areas and the legislative actions taken by California Governor Gavin Newsom last year.

“The analysis shows that the policy strategy deployed by California’s democratic lawmakers is enabling Gov. Newsom – a former progressive San Francisco mayor – to portray himself as a ‘moderate’ by vetoing many far radical left bills, while still signing countless other progressive priorities into law. As a result, the ILA found that Gov. Newsom’s legislative actions aligned with the limited government position 39% of the time based on ILA’s new Governor rating system – the first-ever Governor scorecard based upon bill actions across the 50 legislatures.”

Some of the bills Newsom signed include expanding prevailing wage mandates (AB 1851), forcing taxpayers to fund “scholarships” and training for abortion providers (AB 1918), expanding taxpayer funded legal services to illegal immigrants (AB 2193), unionizing the agriculture industry (AB 2183) – there are many more – this is just a smattering.

As the ILA found out, “the data reveals Newsom is placing a high emphasis on moderate portrayal for issues relating to crime as well as on tax and fiscal policy. For example, while the average Democrat tax and fiscal ratings was a horrifying 1%, Newsom aligned with the limited government position a staggering 60% of the time – even slightly above Republicans who averaged a miserable 58%. However, on progressive priorities such as Energy and Environment, Newsom scored a mere 20%, closely aligning with Democrats who voted with the limited government position just 9% of the time.”

Gov. Newsom vetoed a bill which would have forced taxpayers to fund unemployment for illegal immigrants (AB 2847). And he vetoed a bill which would have required even more recycled mandates (AB 2784). Does this make him moderate? Probably not, but it’s clearly an attempt to improve his public optics.

Read through the entire report – it’s interesting and thorough, and paints an accurate picture of the far-left leaning California Legislature, as well as those legislators who are champions of individual liberties, less government and lower taxation, and far-left leaning Governor Newsom, who is “reimagining” himself a little more moderate.

You can also see How Gov. Gavin Newsom’s Record Compares to Trump, DeSantis, Haley, Pence, Scott and Christie.

Here is the link for the California Limited Government Index scorecard for Gov. Newsom as well as individual Senators and Assembly members. Share your thoughts, please.