The 2023 legislative session is in the books, but we’ll be living with its impact for decades to come.
The special session bill to lure the Oakland A’s to Las Vegas, the rampant pork barrel spending evident in the “Christmas Tree” bill and the push to expand how much largess the Governor’s Office of Economic Development can dole out will affect Nevadans for at least the next generation.
Rather than wait 30 years to see which bills hurt Silver State residents, Nevada Policy has compiled the 2023 Legislative Scorecard & Review. Its goal is simple: to analyze the session to see how lawmakers’ votes directly impacted the principles of limited government, personal liberty and free markets.
Voters can’t hold their elected officials to account – for both good and bad legislation – if they don’t know how they voted on critical issues.
The report grades lawmakers on how they voted, but also includes a look at the best bills, worst bills, best vetoes and analysis of key pieces of legislation.
The 2023 session featured an ongoing disregard for free market principles, a trend that’s been evident for several sessions now.
The Nevada Legislature as a whole scored 47 percent on more than 50 key bills, with the state senate edging the assembly, 52 percent to 44 percent. This isn’t surprising given the amount of control Dems have in the legislature.
Along party lines, Republicans scored 83 percent and Democrats just 28. Assembly Democrats scored even lower, coming in at a paltry 26 percent.
Leading the way for free market principles and limited government was Republican State Senator Robin Titus, who scored a perfect 100 percent. Five other lawmakers – Gregory Hafen, Ira Hansen, Jill Dickman, Ken Gray and Alexis Hansen – all scored 90 or better.
Also scoring well was Gov. Joe Lombardo, who tallied 86 percent in his first legislative session.
At the other end of the spectrum was a three-way tie among legislators for being the least freedom-minded: Cecilia Gonzalez, Sandra Jauregui and Howard Watts each scored a paltry 20.54 percent.
In fact, there were a number of examples of lawmakers compiling the same score as their counterparts, typically not an easy feat given that Nevada Policy considered votes on nearly four dozen bills when compiling scores.
Democrats Shea Backus, Max Carter, Reuben D’Silva, Elaine Marzola, Erica Mosca and Clara Thomas, for example, all registered identical scores of 24.11 percent.
These issue-specific rankings will prove crucial for citizens and activists who are looking to advance liberty by working beyond partisan politics, and engaging lawmakers on important issues.
To read the full report, please download your free copy today.
