Americans for Prosperity-Missouri (AFP-MO) announced its 2021 legislative scorecard, grading lawmakers on whether their actions and votes were freedom-friendly.
“We're nonpartisan and what we look for is particular types of policies that remove barriers from individuals being able to seek and reach prosperity,” said Jeremy Cady, state director with AFP-MO.
Creating a freedom-friendly environment, according to Cady, includes policies pertaining to Medicaid expansion, tax reform, removing regulation, criminal justice reform, and offering quality education to students.
Vescovo
“A lot of our legislators mean well but at the same time they keep pushing the same type of status quo pieces of legislation that we've seen for decades now and those pieces of legislation continue to keep our economy, population, and growth stagnant,” Cady told the St. Louis Record.
For example, AFP-MO, which wants to change the trend towards casting people in jail or prison and throwing away the key, was in favor of Senate Bill (SB) 53, which bans law enforcement from using chokeholds, unless in defense, reduces requirements for the expungement of some records, allows Missourians who have served their time to return to the workforce and become productive citizens and establishes programs to give alternative forms of sentencing to parents with a nonviolent offense to keep families together and working. It also prohibits officers from engaging in sexual conduct with detainees or prisoners and provides feminine hygiene products to incarcerated women. SB 53 was approved.
AFP-MO also favored HB 495, which would have increased the availability of affordable health care to Missourians by allowing a relationship to be started with a physician by telephone, Zoom or online but it was not approved.
"It's not a replacement for all types of doctor visits but for some of those minor things that a doctor can get on a teleconference for or get on a phone call with it can be very, very, very helpful especially for those in rural areas," Cady said. "One of the other issues we've been working on that didn't get done this year is licensing and registration reform, which would have removed barriers and licensing for a lot of occupations."
Republican Speaker of the Missouri House of Representatives Rob Vescovo, who with a 100% ranking received an A rating on the scorecard, is among the politicians who are most aligned with AFP-MO’s freedom-friendly point of view.
“He would be someone we consider a policy champion,” Cady said.
Republican Speaker Pro Tem John Weimann received a B score with 88% because he voted for biodiesel mandates, which, under HB 529, would have forced all diesel fuel sold to contain 20% biodiesel fuel oil by 2026. It was not approved.
“He’s not in the 90% category where we would consider him a policy champion but 88% is still a good solid score, which means he’s positively aligned with where our positions are,” Cady said. “We’re very appreciative of all Weimann’s hard work.”
Dean Plocher, Republican majority floor leader, scored a C with 75% because, like Weimann, he voted in favor of biodiesel mandates.
“He also supported the gas tax increase, which will cost Missourians about $500 million more per year in taxes once it’s fully implemented,” Cady said. “We were heavily opposed to that tax increase and Majority Floor Leader Plocher voted for it.”
Republican President Pro Tem Dave Schatz received a D grade at 60% because he opposed AFP’s position on the gas tax and also sponsored the gas tax legislation.
“In our scorecard, if you file legislation that we support, we give you an extra point but if you file legislation that we oppose, we give you negative points and so since he was the sponsor of the gas tax, he also received a minus point on that,” Cady added. “That's why he scored 60%.'