The Club’s 2022 legislative scorecard (View House of Representatives Scorecard and Senate Scorecard) included a thorough review of 22 bills in the House and 30 bills in the Senate, legislative actions and votes taken by lawmakers this session with an emphasis on the Club’s supported or opposed bills. The methodology included other issues important to our grassroots activists such as good governance reforms, school choice and parental rights, fighting Green New Deal policies, and rejecting corporate welfare.
Issues weighed heavily in the scorecard included bills relating to income tax policy and election integrity, both of which were prime issues for the Club’s agenda for 2022.
Not all legislation was weighted equally but ranked by Club priority. Highly prioritized were bad policies such as the “Build Back Broke” agenda which included bills such as the Maricopa County sales tax increase referral to fund transit projects and other Green New Deal infrastructure projects, the Hollywood tax credit program and other refundable tax credit programs such as the Earned Income Tax Credit and the R&D Tax Credit, and the statewide sales tax increase referral for fire districts.
Club President Scot Mussi expounded, “Our organization was founded to fight for the taxpayer of Arizona. The ability of ‘woke’ corporations to secure major tax carveouts, in some instances zeroing out all tax liability, is a serious threat to a broad-based, low-tax environment for every Arizona family and small business. Our lawmakers shouldn’t be picking winners and losers but representing all Arizona taxpayers.”
Ultimately, several bills became the focus of these efforts and were included in the overall methodology. Here is a sampling of some of the bad bills that were weighed in the 2022 legislative scorecard:
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- SB1708: (motion picture production; tax credit) establishes a refundable tax credit program for businesses and individuals to produce films in Arizona.
- SB1356: (transportation tax; election; Maricopa County) Referred to voters a half cent sales tax for 25 years to fund predominantly transit and other Green New Deal infrastructure projects in Maricopa County.
- HB2862: (general appropriations act; 2022-2023) The “feed bill” which is the main appropriation bill for the budget. This year the Club scored this budget bill negatively as the budget turned into a Democrat spending spree with a 40% increase in spending from last year’s budget and was a part of a deal that included many of the “Build Back Broke” bills.
- SB1018: (earned income; tax credit): Creates a state level refundable earned income tax credit.
Also included in the Club’s legislative priorities were several bills dealing with election integrity. Despite dozens of bills being introduced. these bills were top Club issues the entire session:
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- HB2492: (voter registration; verification; citizenship): bolster safeguards to ensure only legal citizens may register and vote in our elections.
- HB2617: (voter registration; cancellations; causes): Creates a set of database check requirements for regular voter role maintenance.
- SB1362: (early ballot on-site tabulation): Sets up a process for counties to allow voters to tabulate their mail-in ballots on election day.
- SCR1012: (voter identification; voting): A referral to voters to requirement voter ID on mail-in ballots.
Given the rigorous criteria in the Club’s 2022 scorecard, the top performing legislators distinguished themselves as faithful conservatives in the caucus. These members consistently fight for limited government, free market principles, low, smart and fair taxes, and individual liberties. The Club Top performers in the Legislature who have earned an ‘A’ in 2022 included:
| Senator Warren Petersen | LD 12 | 100% |
| Senator Michelle Ugenti-Rita | LD 23 | 93% |
| Senator Wendy Rogers | LD 6 | 91% |
| Rep. Jacqueline Parker | LD 16 | 100% |
| Rep. Jake Hoffman | LD 12 | 100% |
| Rep. Joseph Chaplik | LD 23 | 100% |
| Rep. Neal Carter | LD 8 | 100% |
| Rep. Travis Grantham | LD 12 | 100% |
| Rep. Beverly Pingerelli | LD 21 | 100% |
| Rep. Judy Burges | LD 1 | 100% |
| Rep. Gail Griffin | LD 14 | 91% |
| Rep. Shawnna Bolick | LD 20 | 90% |
| Rep. John Fillmore | LD 16 | 90% |
You can download the methodology for the House and Senate scorecards here.
The Club also compiled a “term” scorecard which averages the scores from both the 2021 and the 2022 session.
You can view the 2021-2022 Legislative Term scorecard for the Arizona House here.
You can view the 2021-2022 Legislative Term scorecard for the Arizona Senate here.
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