Legislative Report Cards | Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association

2007 HJTA Legislative Report Card

The Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association Annual Legislative Report Card is designed to help Californians gauge how their state representatives are performing on taxpayer-related issues. For the 2007 legislative session, 49 bills were used to evaluate and grade voting records. Practically all of these bills deal with tax increases — often masquerading as fees — or direct assaults on Proposition 13 and Proposition 218, the Right to Vote on Taxes Act.

In a change from previous years, we have double-weighted those bills with the most serious consequences for taxpayers, which we have dubbed "Taxpayer Traps."

Finally, we triple-weighted Assembly Constitutional Amendment 8, our number one target this legislative session. While portraying itself as an eminent domain reform measure, ACA 8 actually would have inserted more loopholes into the takings process, making it easier for local governments to seize property, including homes, for the benefit of other private interests.

Enter your Zip Code to find your Assembly and Senate Representatives:

Year: 2009 - 2008 - 2007 - 2006

District	Assembly Member	Grade	%
1	Berg	F	4.6
2	La Malfa	A	99
3	Keene	A	98.7
4	Gaines	A	97.9
5	Niello	A	98.4
6	Huffman	F	3.7
7	Evans	F	4.5
8	Wolk	F	5.7
9	Jones	F	5.1
10	Nakanishi	A	96.8
11	DeSaulnier	F	3.4
12	Ma	F	4.1
13	Leno	F	4.7
14	Hancock	F	3.6
15	Houston	A	94.2
16	Swanson	F	7.5
17	Galgiani	C	55.4
18	Hayashi	F	6.1
19	Mullin	F	7.5
20	Torrico	F	8.7
21	Ruskin	F	1.8
22	Lieber	F	3.3
23	Coto	F	4.5
24	Beall	F	4.8
25	Berryhill	A	96.8
26	Aghazarian	A	92.7
27	Laird	F	3.5
28	Caballero	F	4.4
29	Villines	A	99.1
30	Parra	D	24.6
31	Arambula	F	7.4
32	Fuller	A	98.5
33	Blakeslee	A	93.8
34	Maze	A	95.9
35	Nava	F	5.1
36	Runner	A	93.5
37	Strickland*	B	77.8
38	Smyth	A	95.2
39	Fuentes	F	7.5
40	Levine	F	6.1
41	Brownly	F	4.5
42	Feuer	F	4.3
43	Krekorian	F	4.6
44	Portantino	F	4.9
45	De Leon	F	3.5
46	Nunez	F	4.1
48	Davis	F	4.9
49	Eng	F	7.6
50	De La Torre	F	6.3
51	Price	F	6
52	Dymally	F	7.7
53	Lieu	D	11.9
54	Karnette	F	4.2
55	Richardson*	D	31.2
56	Mendoza	F	7.5
57	Hernandez	F	8.2
58	Calderon	F	10.7
59	Adams	A	95.7
60	Huff	A	97.8
61	Soto*	D	23.6
62	Carter	F	7.4
63	Emmerson	A	94.5
64	Benoit	A	96.7
65	Cook	A	92
66	Jeffries	A	96.8
67	Silva	A	94.8
68	Tran	A	93.5
69	Solorio	F	5.7
70	DeVore	A	96.8
71	Spitzer	A	95.9
72	Duvall	A	97.4
73	Walters	A	100
74	Garrick	A	97.5
75	Plescia	A	96.1
76	Saldana	F	3.5
77	Anderson	A	98.5
78	Horton	B	89.1
79	Salas	F	7.5
80	Garcia	A	93.4

District	Senator	Grade	%
1	Cox	A	95.8
2	Wiggins	D	14.3
3	Migden	D	10.3
4	Aanestad	A	90.2
5	Machado	D	21.9
6	Steinberg	F	3
7	Torlakson	F	4.5
8	Yee	F	6
9	Perata	F	10
10	Corbett	F	4.1
11	Simitian	F	9.1
12	Denham	A	98.1
13	Alquist	F	6
14	Cogdill	A	96.3
15	Maldonado	B	85.4
16	Florez	D	11.1
17	Runner	A	93.7
18	Ashburn	A	97.4
19	McClintock	A	97.1
20	Padilla	F	7
21	Scott	D	12
22	Cedillo	F	4.5
23	Kuehl	F	6.3
24	Romero	F	8.7
25	Vincent*	D	21.6
26	Ridley-Thomas	F	5.5
27	Lowenthal	F	8.6
28	Oropeza	F	9.7
29	Margett	B	88.5
30	Calderon	D	13.6
31	Dutton	A	93.4
32	Negrete McLeod	D	19.9
33	Ackerman	A	100
34	Correa	C	59.4
35	Harman	A	97.9
36	Hollingsworth	A	99
37	Battin*	B	75.8
38	Wyland	A	98.9
39	Kehoe	F	6.8
40	Ducheny	D	23

NOTE:
* Senators Battin and Vincent, and Assembly Members Soto and Strickland, missed a number of votes for illness or important personal reasons. Assembly Member Richardson missed votes due to being elected to Congress. Missed votes can have an impact on the final grade and make the results a less reliable measure of a lawmaker's true attitude regarding taxpayer issues.

Some bills included opposition from the "Stop the Hidden Taxes Coalition," of which HJTA is a member. This was sometimes used in place of a direct letter from the organization.

HJTA's "Taxpayer Traps," or the bills that would have the most impact on taxpayers, were weighted double.

Assembly Constitutional Amendment 8, HJTA's #1 target, was triple-weighted.

SB 1, SB 93 and SB 976 were "gut and amend" bills included on the scorecard. Only those votes beginning with the major amendments were included.

RSS