Thirteen freshmen or redshirt freshmen in the Florida House were among 32 representatives named "Champions of Economic Freedom" on Americans for Prosperity-Florida's 2016 scorecard, released Tuesday.
It's a result that bodes well for the direction of the House going into 2017 -- an era many have predicted will be the beginning of a predominance of anti-economic issues in the Florida Legislature.
Even considering the increasing number of contested House races coming this year, an ideological turnaround doesn't seem likely now, Capitol observers have said.
The 13 freshmen, plus leaders Richard Corcoran and Jose Oliva, represent some two-thirds of the freshman class. Good news for the future of conservative values in Florida, says the organization.
“The Economic Freedom Scorecard is produced so that taxpayers have a comprehensive tool for holding their elected officials accountable,” said state director, Chris Hudson. “We want Floridians to able to clearly see which lawmakers are standing up for good policy and which ones are voting for more business-as-usual.
"We do not hand out A’s for effort. Legislators earn their grades by voting against corporate welfare, wasteful spending, and tax hikes and instead supporting greater freedom for Floridians to live, work, and raise a family,” Hudson said.
Read the entire scorecard here.
To earn the title of Champion of Economic Freedom, legislator must have "acted in the interest of economic freedom during this year’s legislative session."
In order to receive the designation, legislators must have scored an A+ on the 2016 Economic Freedom Scorecard. This means that they either had a perfect voting record on AFP-FL issues, or had a nearly perfect voting record and sponsored good legislation on AFP-FL priority issues.
House members named Champions of Economic Freedom include Manny Diaz, Chris Sprowls, James Grant, Cary Pigman, Larry Ahern, Blaise Ingoglia, Carlos Trujillo, Matt Caldwell, Dane Eagle, Ray Rodrigues, Jennifer Sullivan, Mike Miller, Bob Cortes, Jeanette Nunez, Heather Fizenhagen, Michael Bileca, Bryan Avila, Fred Costello, MaryLynn Magar, Frank Artiles, Danny Burgess, Richard Corcoran, Eric Eisnaugle, Mike Hill, Matt Hudson, Mike LaRosa, Debbie Mayfield, Jose Oliva, Paul Renner, Ken Roberson, Greg Steube and Dana Young.
Only four senators were named a Champion of Economic Freedom: Jeff Brandes, Kelli Stargel, Don Gaetz, and Lizbeth Benacquisto.
The scorecard weighs more than 4,300 individual votes on 59 legislative issues. Each of Americans for Prosperity-Florida’s (AFP-FL) legislative priorities is included on the scorecard, plus all additional issues the AFP-FL communicated support for or opposition to during the 2016 regular legislative session.
AFP-FL defines economic freedom as the freedom to choose how to produce, sell and use your own resources, while respecting others’ rights to do the same. A more economically free government has low taxes, a limited scope and size of government and government spending, limited government regulations, protects individual rights and prefers free markets over cronyism.
Says AFP-FL in its scorecard summary, "States with more economic freedom have higher economic growth, less debt per GDP and lower unemployment rates than less economically free states. However economic freedom is not only about the economy; it affects every aspect of our lives. Economic freedom leads to higher incomes, lower poverty, longer life expectancies, cleaner environments, improved equality and more happiness -- it leads to greater opportunity and an improved quality of life."
Americans for Prosperity-Florida (AFP-FL), defines itself as the Sunshine State’s leading grassroots advocate for economic freedom. It is just one chapter of a national organization.
