Ohio Earns High Marks on Cutting Regulations but Low Tax, Fiscal and Healthcare Ratings
Just Released Report Ranks Gov. DeWine and All OH Lawmakers – Most Expansive Vote Record Analysis Ever Published
WASHINGTON, DC – A new vote record analysis of the Ohio legislature – including the most comprehensive federal and state lawmaker scorecard ever produced – has found Ohio lawmakers have the most conservative voting records when it comes to cutting regulations, but very liberal records on tax, fiscal and healthcare policy. The report just released by the Institute for Legislative Analysis (ILA) is based on nearly 8,000 votes cast by Ohio lawmakers last year at both the federal and state level.
The report also found that Mike DeWine’s record as Governor was significantly less conservative than most Republicans within the state legislature, with DeWine earning a Limited Government Rating of 68.63% compared to the Republican average of 79.59%. The score is calculated through ILA’s new Governor rating system, the nation’s first system that evaluates the Executive Branch based on bill signage and veto actions. While DeWine has an excellent track record on fighting crime and reducing regulations (earning perfect ratings in those categories), he earned very low scores within the Tax and Fiscal (36%) and Healthcare (0%) categories, which can be found within ILA’s full legislative report.
The legislature also struggled across the same categories, with Republicans voting in-line with the limited government position on Tax and Fiscal issues a mere 42% of the time, and Democrats averaging 10%. Republican’s track record on Healthcare policy was especially horrendous, averaging just 25%, which surprisingly was below even Democrats who averaged 27%. The ILA evaluated all lawmakers and Gov. DeWine across the full spectrum of policy and rated all individuals on a 100-0 scale.
“Unfortunately, Ohio lawmakers have still not learned their lesson from the disastrous consequences of Obamacare. Additional government mandates within the healthcare industry merely lead to higher costs and less consumer options,” said ILA CEO Ryan McGowan. “And as workarounds to Obamacare such as healthcare sharing has proven, the elimination of unnecessary coverages results in drastically lower healthcare premiums.”
The Institute for Legislative Analysis has awarded 47 federal and state lawmakers for earning limited government ratings of 80% and above. Additionally, 21 lawmakers earned ILA’s “Big Government Extremist” award for their ratings of 10% and below on the scorecard.
The ILA serves as the new data and policy hub for multiple national conservative and liberty-minded organizations. Prior to the launch of the ILA, the team previously served together for nearly a decade at CPAC and the American Conservative Union where they constructed the nation’s first 50 state legislative scorecard.
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Institute for Legislative Analysis
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