The Republican Liberty Caucus of Arizona (RLCAZ) released its 2022 rankings of Arizona legislators based on how they voted to advance or restrict liberty, and eight scored a perfect 100 or above. State Representatives Jake Hoffman (R-Queen Creek) and Neal Carter (R-Casa Grande) tied with 106 for the top scores in the State House, and State Senator Warren Petersen (R-Mesa) received the highest score in the State Senate, 102.
Hoffman told The Arizona Sun Times, “It’s an honor to be recognized for my efforts to defend liberty. I am humbled to be one of the highest-scoring members of the Arizona legislature; however, while I’m grateful for the recognition, it’s not why I, or any of the other top scorers, fight so hard to defend constitutionally limited government. We do it because we take our oath of office and the Constitution seriously. Unlike so many in the swamp, we view elected service as an awesome responsibility to fight for the people we represent at all times, especially when it’s unpopular amongst the political establishment to do so.”
The scoring was primarily based on 22 pivotal bills during the 2022 session. Extra points were earned – or points taken away – for bills that did not involve all of the House or Senate because they were never brought to a floor vote. These included sponsoring or voting for or against bills in committee that failed, and holding bills in order to defeat them.
Carter told The Sun Times that any legislator who scored at least 100 did as well as he did. “It isn’t fair to ‘punish’ a legislator for not voting against a bad bill that may have been killed in committee by members in that committee, thus never reaching the whole House for a vote, so the RLCAZ score cards give ‘extra credit’ points for votes in committee, as well as for sponsoring or co-sponsoring bills that further the cause of liberty.”
He explained how he just happened to be in a couple of positions within committees to score the extra points. One was a bill he sponsored as a member of the House Judiciary Committee that “involved offering incentives to certain non-violent drug offenders to finish the terms of their probation with flying colors.” The other points came due to his position on the House Transportation Committee, where he was able to “support appropriate allocations to the traditional government funding of roads while opposing tax hikes and increases veiled as transportation projects.”
Carter sponsored the popular HB 2453, signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey, which bans local and state governments from imposing mask mandates in order to obtain services. He proposed the bill after being turned away from obtaining a marriage license at the Pinal County Courthouse with his wife because they weren’t wearing masks.
RLCAZ grouped the bills primarily into three categories. They are fiscal policy: taxes and spending, economic freedom, and individual liberty. Almost every Republican scored perfectly on the individual liberty bills. They split on the economic freedom bills, and most of them scored poorly on the fiscal bills.
Numerous Republicans lost a point for voting “yes” on the main budget bill, HB 2862, which RLCAZ doubled the points for due to the large amount of “fiscally irresponsible” items, which increased spending by over $5 billion.
A bill that tripped up even some of the most stalwart conservative legislators in committee was HB 2663. RLCAZ opposed it because it imposes “numerous new regulations on short-term rental properties.” SB 1168, a similar bill that made it into law, also caught some conservative legislators voting for it. RLCAZ stated, “SB 1168 grows government and infringes on private property rights.”
Another bill that many Republicans were dinged for was HB 2101, which repealed the law allowing competition among power companies. RLCAZ noted, “It will reduce consumer choices and lead to higher utility bills.”
HB 2156 caused a firestorm at the end of the legislative session, as a few senators demanded that it be passed before agreeing to pass the budget. Signed into law by Gov. Doug Ducey, it provides $125 million for tax credits to film companies that film in Arizona. RLCAZ stated that “wasteful, crony corporate welfare is a misuse of tax dollars.”
The “massive $1.1 billion spending increase” for K-12, HCR 2039, ensnared numerous Republicans. RLCAZ noted that the bill “violated the proper legislative process. It never received a committee hearing because both chambers waived rules and brought it straight to the floor for a vote.”
The RLCAZ is very fiscally conservative, so even the Arizona Office of Tourism is frowned upon as a waste of taxpayers’ money. Legislators were penalized for voting “yes” on HB 2714 to extend it for eight years.
The next highest scorers were State Representative Joseph Chaplik (R-Scottsdale) and State Representative Jacqueline Parker (R-Mesa) with 104, State Representative Travis Grantham (R-Gilbert) with 102, and State Representative Judy Burges (R-Prescott) with 100. In the Senate, State Senator Beverly Pingerelli (R-Peoria) scored 100.
In the House, the lowest-scoring Republican legislator was State Representative Teresa Martinez (R-Casa Grande) with a 46, and in the Senate it was both State Senator TJ Shope (R-Florence) and State Senator Tyler Pace (R-Mesa). Pace sponsored the so-called ‘Maricopa County Transit Slush Fund Tax,’ SB 1356, which was defeated. Shope received one of the lowest scores from the American Conservative Union (ACU) last year among Republican legislators in Arizona – 78 percent.
On the Democrat side, State Representative Pamela Powers Hanley (D-Tucson) scored the highest in the House with 22, and State Representative Richard Andrade (D-Glendale) scored the lowest with 3. In the Senate, State Senator Raquel Teran (D-Phoenix) scored the highest with 26, and State Senator Lupe Contreras (D-Cashion) scored the lowest with 0.
Petersen topped last year’s scorecard. He has a 96.98 lifetime rating from the ACU. Hoffman has a 100 (Carter is not yet listed since last year was his first term).
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Rachel Alexander is a reporter at The Arizona Sun Times and The Star News Network. Follow Rachel on Twitter. Email tips to [email protected].
Background Photo “Arizona Capitol” by Wars. CC BY-SA 3.0.
