Just Released Legislative Study: Tennessee the National Leader on Fighting Crime
Former ACU/CPAC Scorecard Team Launches New Operation – Awards 63 Tennessee State Lawmakers for Limited Government Voting
WASHINGTON, DC – The Institute for Legislative Analysis (ILA) has just released the most comprehensive vote record analysis ever performed on the Tennessee legislature, spanning nearly 7,000 lawmaker votes. The ILA team, made up of the original architects of the American Conservative Union (CPAC) state ratings program, launched the organization to better pinpoint each state’s strengths and weaknesses in advancing policy that aligns with the limited government principles of the U.S. Constitution.
The ILA’s preliminary and full-scale analyses of the 50 state legislatures found that the Tennessee legislature is the #1 rated for increasing public safety and fighting crime. This is based on ILA’s innovative new category rating system which provides both states and all lawmakers with individualized ratings across 10 key policy categories. In the Local and National Security category, a stellar 90% of votes cast by Tennessee lawmakers aligned with pro-public safety positions and in opposition to the “criminal justice reforms” which have plagued the nation with skyrocketing crime. On the flip side, the data shows that Tennessee lawmakers have room for improvement in the Healthcare category, with 55% of lawmaker votes being cast for Big Government policies such as greater regulations and mandates.
A total of 63 Tennessee state lawmakers received the “Defender of Limited Government” Award for having voting records that overall aligned at least 80% of the time with the limited government principles of the U.S. Constitution.
“Through our team’s previous work on scorecards we helped shine a light on Tennessee as a top conservative state,” said Ryan McGowan, CEO of the Institute for Legislative Analysis. “The ILA team is excited to now bring the scorecard model to an entirely new level and help Tennessee pinpoint its policy strengths and weaknesses so it can continue to raise the bar for the nation. Additionally, we applaud Lt. Governor McNally and Speaker Sexton for their tremendous work to make Tennessee the national leader on fighting crime. While the Republican leaders in most other states caved to passing radical left policies surrounding criminal justice “reform,” Tennessee’s leadership instead placed the victims of crime and the public safety of its citizens first. Not surprisingly, Tennessee is now experiencing steep drops in violent crime, while the states that took the opposite approach, such as Oklahoma and Mississippi, are plagued by out-of-control crime.”
The ILA has also launched the nation’s first Governor ratings system based on bill signage and veto history. The analysis found that Governor Bill Lee’s record aligned with the limited government principles of the U.S. Constitution 78.33% of the time. While data is still being compiled for all 50 Governors, Lee’s record is projected to be amongst the highest in the nation, exceeding other Republican Governors including Little 42.53% (ID), Gordon 51.85% (WY), DeWine 68.63% (OH), and Florida’s DeSantis 76.25%.
The Institute for Legislative Analysis serves as the new data and policy hub for the conservative movement. Earlier this year, the ILA produced the most comprehensive and in-depth vote record analysis ever conducted on Congress made up of nearly 40,000 votes. In September, the ILA released a policy record analysis spanning 10,000 actions taken by Donald Trump, Nikki Haley, Ron DeSantis, Chris Christie, Tim Scott and Mike Pence.
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Institute for Legislative Analysis
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