The Rio Grande Foundation recently introduced a new legislative tracking tool to give the public a view of how lawmakers are voting when it comes to free markets.
The Freedom Index tracks how state lawmakers vote and scores them depending on how those votes pertain to free markets or bigger government, according to the Freedom Index website. Currently, Republicans in the House have scores that range from -97 to 56, with House Rep. Rebecca Dow (R-Truth or Consequences) scoring the lowest while House Rep. Candy Ezzell (R-Roswell) scoring the highest.
Eleven GOP House representatives have scores of zero or above.
| https://www.riograndefoundation.org/rio-grande-foundation-2019-freedom-index/
In the Senate, Republicans have scores between -163 and 41, with House Rep. Candace Gould (R-Albuquerque) scoring the lowest and House Rep. Mark Moores (R-Albuquerque) scoring the highest. Three Senate Republicans have scores above zero.
On the Democratic side, only one member of the Senate scored above zero while the rest ranged from -185 to -282. In the House, Democrats received scores ranging from -115 to -374.
The Rio Grande Foundation hopes that the Freedom Index will help provide information for voters, as well as legislators and their staffs.
"In short, the index provides an excellent analysis of bills that will come before committees or a vote on the floor as well as tracking a legislator’s Freedom Index score," the foundation's website states. "The public will find our Freedom Index to be a tool to hold elected officials accountable for their votes and to gain a better understanding of the legislation being proposed by the House or Senate members."
The purpose of the index is for voting performance to be brought to light for each party and each lawmaker so that the public can see the analyses. The website provides links regarding legislation with detail and links to lawmakers' contact information and other information about how they have voted.
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