Legislative Report Cards

2024 HJTA Legislative Report Card

HJTA’s Legislative Report Card is designed to help Californians gauge how their state representatives are performing on taxpayer-related issues, including, but not limited to, tax increases and direct attacks on Proposition 13.

This year, 10 Assembly Members and 8 Senators received grades of A. Senators Brian Dahle, Shannon Grove, and Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh scored A grades, Roger Niello, Kelly Seyarto, Janet Nguyen earned an A+ and Scott Wilk earned an A-. In the other house, Assembly Members James Gallagher, Bill Essayli, Kate Sanchez and Diane Dixon earned grades of A, with Josh Hoover, Jim Patterson, Tom Lackey, Tri Ta and Laurie Davies scoring grades of A-.

Not sure who represents you, or how to contact them? You can look up the names and contact information of your representatives online at findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov and let them know that you saw their voting record for taxpayers in the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association’s Legislative Report Card.

If you have questions about the Legislative Report Card, please contact Legislative Director Scott Kaufman at [email protected].

2023 HJTA Legislative Report Card

HJTA’s Legislative Report Card is designed to help Californians gauge how their state representatives are performing on taxpayer-related issues, including, but not limited to, tax increases and direct attacks on Proposition 13.

Not sure who represents you, or how to contact them? You can look up the names and contact information of your representatives at findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov or in the government pages of your local White Pages directory. Let them know that you saw their voting record for taxpayers in the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association’s Legislative Report Card.

If you have questions about the Legislative Report Card, please contact Legislative Director Scott Kaufman at [email protected].

See our latest 2023 Legislative Report Card below or click here to print

HOW DID YOUR REPRESENTATIVES VOTE IN THE FIGHT TO PROTECT PROPOSITION 13?
GRADE A+: Voted to Protect Proposition 13
ACA 1: An attack on Proposition 13 that makes it easier to raise taxes
ACA 13: A devious trick to prevent taxpayers from restoring Prop. 13's 2/3 vote requirement for tax increases

VOTED MOSTLY TO PROTECT PROPOSITION 13 - GRADE B

DID NOT VOTE ON MEASURES THAT ATTACKED PROPOSITION 13 - GRADE C

VOTED BOTH FOR AND AGAINST THE ATTACK ON PROPOSITION 13 - GRADE C

VOTED MOSTLY TO ATTACK PROPOSITION 13 - GRADE D

VOTED AGAINST PROPOSITION 13 - GRADE F

2022 HJTA Legislative Report Card

HJTA’s Legislative Report Card is designed to help Californians gauge how their state representatives are performing on taxpayer-related issues, including, but not limited to, tax increases and direct attacks on Proposition 13.

This year, 12 Assembly Members and 8 Senators received grades of A. Senators Brian Dahle, Andreas Borgeas, Shannon Grove, Scott Wilk, Melissa Melendez, Patricia Bates, and Brian Jones scored A grades, and Rosilicie Ochoa Bogh earned an A-. In the other house, Assembly Members James Gallagher, Kevin Kiley, Thurston “Smitty” Smith, Vince Fong, Suzette Martinez Valladares, Kelly Seyarto, and Janet Nguyen earned grades of A, with Devon Mathis, Tom Lackey, Phillip Chen, Steven Choi and Marie Waldron scoring grades of A-.

Not sure who represents you, or how to contact them? You can look up the names and contact information of your representatives at findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov or in the government pages of your local White Pages directory. Let them know that you saw their voting record for taxpayers in the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association’s Legislative Report Card.

If you have questions about the Legislative Report Card, please contact Legislative Director Scott Kaufman at [email protected].

2021 HJTA Legislative Report Card

Our report card is designed to help Californians gauge how their state representatives are performing on taxpayer-related issues, including, but not limited to, tax increases and direct attacks on Proposition 13.

As with last year, we only considered floor votes. This allows all legislators to vote on a bill at the same time and removes the potential risk of grade inflation. We also gave bills that have made it through both chambers greater consideration in our scoring. It is those bills, like SB 323, a direct attack on Proposition 218 that seeks to destroy the rights hard-won for taxpayers in Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Assn. v. City of La Habra, that were most likely to hurt (or help) taxpayers.

Abstention votes on legislation count as half credit.

Senator Patricia Bates was the only legislator to score a perfect 100 this year. Eleven other legislators received A’s, including fellow Senators Andreas Borgeas, Shannon Grove, Melissa Melendez and Scott Wilk as well as Assembly Members Frank Bigelow, Steven Choi, Vince Fong, James Gallagher, Kevin Kiley, Kelly Seyarto and Randy Voepel.

Sixteen other legislatures were awarded B’s, and one legislator was awarded a C. Sixteen legislators received D’s and 74 flunked.

The 2021 scores stem from 14 bills. For more information about our methodology and scoring system you can e-mail Legislative Director Scott Kaufman at [email protected].

If you would like to contact your representatives about their grade on HJTA’s report card, or for any other reason, you can look up their names and contact information online at findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov or in the government pages of your local White Pages directory.

2020 HJTA Legislative Report Card

Our report card is designed to help Californians gauge how their state representatives are actually performing on taxpayer-related issues, including, but not limited to, tax increases and direct attacks on Proposition 13.

As with last year, we only considered floor votes. This allows all legislators to vote on a bill at the same time and removes the potential risk of grade inflation. We also gave bills that have made it through both chambers’ greater consideration in our scoring. It is those bills, like ACA 11, now Proposition 19, a massive tax increase on inherited properties, that were most likely to hurt taxpayers, or in the case of good bills, to help taxpayers.

Abstention votes on legislation count as half credit.

Senators Patricia Bates, Melissa Melendez and Mike Morrell received a perfect 100 percent. Ten other legislators received A’s, including fellow Senators Shannon Grove and John Moorlach as well as Assembly Members Bill Brough, Phillip Chen, Steven Choi, Vince Fong, Kevin Kiley, Marie Waldron, Jim Patterson and Melissa Melendez. You may have noticed we mentioned Melendez twice. She received an A in the Assembly before winning a special election to represent the 28th State Senate District.

Seventeen other legislators were awarded B’s, including Democrat Sharon Quirk-Silva, and three legislators were awarded C’s.

Eighty-four lawmakers flunked.

The 2020 scores stem from 16 bills. For more information about our methodology and scoring system, go to www.hjta.org, or e-mail Legislative Director Scott Kaufman at [email protected].

Brian Dahle:
    AD 1 until June 2019     SD 1 after June 2019

Megan Dahle:     AD 1 after November 2019

Jeff Stone:     SD 28, resigned October 2019

Melissa Melendez:     AD 67 until May 2020     SD 28 after May 2020

2019 HJTA Legislative Report Card

Our report card is designed to help Californians gauge how their state representatives are actually performing on taxpayer-related issues, including but not limited to tax increases and direct attacks on Proposition 13.

This year, we slightly changed our scoring system to remove policy committee votes so that only floor votes are considered. This allows all legislators to vote on a bill at the same time and removes the potential risk of grade inflation. Abstention votes on legislation count as half credit.

For the first time a Democrat, Assemblywoman Cottie Petrie-Norris (Laguna Beach), received a perfect 100 percent. Fifteen other legislators also received perfect scores: Assembly Members Bill Brough, Vince Fong, Tom Lackey, Devon Mathis, Melissa Melendez, Jay Obernolte, and Randy Voepel, and State Senators Patricia Bates, LingLing Chang, Senate Republican Leader Shannon Grove, Brian Jones, Mike Morrell, Jeff Stone and Scott Wilk.

The 2019 scores stem from nine bills. For more information about our methodology and scoring system, go www.hjta.org or e-mail Legislative Director Scott Kaufman at [email protected].

Brian Dahle resigned his Assembly seat in Assembly District 1 after winning a special election for the Senate District 1 seat. Any Assembly votes he took is included in his Senate score.

Due to Assembly District 1 being vacant, only 79 Assembly Members are scored.

For AB 116, AB 723 and SB 268 only floor votes taken in September are included in the scorecard due to the bill being gutted and amended.

For SB 96, only the final floor votes in both the Assembly and Senate are counted in the scorecard.

For SB 128, only votes taken before March 30, are counted due to the bill being gutted and amended.

2018 HJTA Legislative Report Card

Our report card is designed to help Californians gauge how their state representatives are actually performing on taxpayer-related issues, including tax increases and direct attacks on Proposition 13. Thirteen legislators received perfect scores in 2018: Assembly Members Catharine Baker, Frank Bigelow, Bill Brough, Phil Chen, Heath Flora, Kevin Kiley, Tom Lackey, Devon Mathis, Melissa Melendez, Jay Obernolte, Marc Steinorth and Randy Voepel, and State Senator Mike Morrell.

Please know that it is very important to HJTA that this process be as fair and nonpartisan as possible. To aid in this objective, we have given half credit for all vote abstentions. We believe those legislators with the courage to abstain as opposed to always pushing the green button should be rewarded in some fashion. To that end, we note that two Democrat legislators, Sabrina Cervantes and Sharon Quirk-Silva, received “B” grades, their best scores ever.

We encourage you to see how your legislators scored, then also to take the next — and most important — step and contact your legislator’s office to express your support or concern.

To find the names and contact information of your representatives, go online to findyourrep.legislature.ca.gov or check your local phone book for listings of government offices.

The 2018 scores stem from 11 bills. For more information about our methodology, e-mail Legislative Director Scott Kaufman at [email protected].

Only policy committee and floor votes are included in the scorecard.

Senator Josh Newman did not receive a grade due to his being recalled from office.

Senator Tom Berryhill did not receive a grade due to insufficient votes.

The grades for Assembly Members Gabriel, Kamlager-Dove and Rivas and Senator Chang may have outliers in their scores due to their taking office later in the legislative year.

Neither Senator Tony Mendoza nor his replacement, Vanessa Delgado, received grades in this scorecard

Regarding AB 2376 and SB 998, only final floor votes in the Assembly and Senate are included.

Regarding AB 1184 and SB 152, only votes taken after August 28 are included due to its being a gut-and-amend proposal.

Regarding SB 1145, only votes taken after June 12 are included.

Abstention votes are given half credit in the scorecard.

2017 HJTA Legislative Report Card

Our report card is designed to help Californians gauge how their state representatives are actually performing on taxpayer-related issues including tax increases and direct attacks on Proposition 13. Ten legislators received perfect scores in 2017: Assembly Members Travis Allen, Brian Dahle, Vince Fong, Jay Obernolte and Jim Patterson, and State Senators Joel Anderson, Patricia Bates, Jean Fuller, Mike Morrell and Jeff Stone.

Please know that it is very important to HJTA that this process be as fair and non-partisan as possible. To aid in this objective, we have given half-credit for all vote abstentions. We believe those legislators with the courage to abstain as opposed to always pushing the green button should be rewarded in some fashion.

We encourage you to see how your legislators scored, noting especially that very few of them have received the HJTA standard of excellence—a grade of "A." Then we'd also encourage you to take the next — and most important — step, and contact your legislator's office to express your support or concern.

The 2017 scores stem from 22 bills. For more information about our methodology e-mail Legislative Director Scott Kaufman at [email protected]

Assembly Member Jimmy Gomez did not receive a grade due to his being elected to Congress.

Assembly Member Dababneh automatically receives a "C" grade for his carrying of Assembly Bill 1194. Assembly Member Rubio automatically receives a "C" grade for her carrying of Assembly Bill 1625. Assembly Member Bocanegra automatically receives a "C" grade for his carrying of Assembly Bill 1322.

Regarding SB 231, only votes taken after August 28th are included due to its being a gut-and-amend proposal,

Regarding SB 797, only votes taken after June 26th are included due to its being a gut-and-amend proposal. Regarding AB 102, AB 398, AB 1194, AB 1367, SB 5, SB 117 and SB 595, only final floor votes in the Assembly and Senate are included.

2016 HJTA Legislative Report Card

Our report card is designed to help Californians gauge how their state representatives are actually performing on taxpayer-related issues both positive and negative. Positive proposals include bills that clarify the parcel tax exemption process for seniors and create additional campaign finance transparency, negative bills include a car battery tax increase, which we chose to double-weight in our scoring, and numerous bills which serve to undercut the ballot initiative process.

Seven legislators received perfect scores in 2016: Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes, Shannon Grove, Jay Obernolte, Matt Harper and Don Wagner. They were joined on the Senate side by Ted Gaines and Jim Nielsen. Assembly Member Matt Dababneh was the highest scoring Democrat, thanks to his authoring of Assembly Bill 1891, an HJTA-sponsored proposal.

The 2016 scores stem from 22 bills. For more information about our methodology and scoring system e-mail Legislative Director Scott Kaufman at [email protected]

Only policy committee and floor votes are included in the scorecard.

Senator Runner did not receive a grade in the 2016 scorecard.

Assembly Member Dababneh automatically receives a "C" grade for his carrying of Assembly Bill 1891.

Regarding AB 1889, only votes taken after August 1st are included due to it being a gut-and-amend proposal.

Regarding AB 2153, only final floor votes in the Assembly and Senate are included.

AB 2153 votes are double-weighted due to it being a car battery tax.

Abstention votes are given half credit in the scorecard.

2015 HJTA Legislative Report Card

Our report card is designed to help Californians measure how their state representatives are actually voting on, not just talking about, taxpayer-related issues including tax increases and direct attacks on Proposition 13. Eight legislators received perfect scores in 2015: Assemblymembers Frank Bigelow, Beth Gaines, Brian Jones, Tom Lackey, incoming Assembly Republican Leader Chad Mayes, Jay Obernolte, Jim Patterson, and State Senator Mike Morrell. Lackey, Mayes, and Obernolte are freshmen legislators completing their first year in the Capitol.

The 2015 scores are derived from 16 bills. For more information about our methodology and scoring system go to hjta.org or e-mail Legislative Director Scott Kaufman at [email protected]

NOTE: Only policy committee and floor votes are included in the scorecard.

The grades for Senators Glazer, Moorlach and Runner may not fully reflect their positions due to their assuming office in 2015 special elections.

Assemblyman Holden automatically receives a "C" grade for his carrying of Assembly Bill 1378.

Regarding SB 705, only votes taken after September 3 are included due to its being a gut-and-amend proposal.

Regarding SB 350, only final floor votes in the Assembly and Senate are included.

2014 HJTA Legislative Report Card

Our report card is designed to help Californians gauge how their state representatives are actually performing on taxpayer-related issues both positive and negative. Positive proposals include bills strengthening transparency provisions for the reporting of local property parcel taxes, negative bills include tax increases and direct attacks on Proposition 13.

This year, we slightly changed our scoring system to include a two year scoring average. This is more in line with the two-year cycles that historically have been adopted by the California Legislature. Five legislators have received a perfect 100 percent average over the last two years: Assembly members Brian Dahle, Tim Donnelly, Beth Gaines and State Senators Joel Anderson and Mark Wyland.

The 2013 scores stem from 15 bills. For more information about our methodology and scoring system go hjta.org or e-mail Legislative Director Scott Kaufman at [email protected]