Since 2007, Texans for Fiscal Responsibility (TFR) has attempted to provide Texas taxpayers with a tool to easily discern how their lawmakers perform on issues related to the size and role of government. The Fiscal Responsibility Index uses votes taken by lawmakers on core budget and free enterprise-related legislation in an attempt to demonstrate individual lawmakers’ governing philosophies.

This year, TFR has decided to add another series of metrics in an attempt to accurately describe some of lawmakers’ more nuanced actions that impact the reach of Texas taxpayer wallets. Enter the first edition of our “Tops & Flops List.”

The 88th Legislative Session was one that is best summed up by how lawmakers saw fit to use the historic $32.7 billion budget surplus—instead of returning it to taxpayers, where it belongs. Lawmakers approved of the largest spending increase in Texas history, successfully revived the largest corporate welfare boondoggle in Texas history while spending billions on new corporate welfare efforts, and ended the legislative session with no new property tax relief.

Tops & Flops List

• Cream of the Crop
  • Taxpayer Champions
  • Impressive Newcomers
• Bottom of the Barrel
  • Fiscal Foes
• Special Awards & Recognitions
  • Flip-Flopper Award
  • “Best” Actor Award
  • Off-the-Fiscal-Cliff Award
  • Bad Bill of the Session Recognition
  • Forgettable Award
  • Cringiest Moment Recognition
  • Best Point of Order

Cream of the Crop

Taxpayer Champions

So, which Texas lawmakers were the cream of the crop this session?

At Texans for Fiscal Responsibility, we call lawmakers “Taxpayer Champions” if they attain an “A” rating on our Fiscal Responsibility Index (a score of 90 or above).

Texas Senate

In the Texas Senate, we had three Taxpayer Champions.

Texas House of Representatives

In the Texas House of Representatives, we had four Taxpayer Champions.

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Impressive Newcomers

This cycle, we believe it is prudent to highlight the impressive newcomers to each respective legislative chamber. TFR specifically wanted to highlight the efforts of lawmakers who not only earned the highest score of their class but also advocated for policies that Texans for Fiscal Responsibility favors due to their potential benefit for Texas taxpayers.

Bottom of the Barrel

Fiscal Foes

The following lawmakers consistently worked against the best interests of Texas taxpayers during the 88th Legislative Session by authoring and supporting legislation that grew the size and scope of government.

Texas Senate

Lowest-Scoring Republicans

Lowest-Scoring Democrats

Texas House of Representatives

Lowest-Scoring Republicans

Lowest-Scoring Democrats

Special Awards & Recognitions

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Flip-Flopper Award

For the first time, TFR is highlighting the lawmakers who changed their votes the most throughout the entirety of the legislative session. Every session, a myriad of votes are changed after the fact. Sometimes these vote changes are warranted, but often many lawmakers are simply trying to game the system and give themselves cover or boost their own scores in scorecards as they campaign in the next election cycle.

There is no way for us to definitively know their intentions behind every vote change, but we can provide Texas taxpayers some transparency into this dubious practice, which is far more prevalent in the Texas House of Representatives due to the way the rules and process work.

This legislative session, the Texas House of Representatives took more than 2,200 record votes and House lawmakers collectively changed their votes a total of 4,955 times. Think about that. Nearly 5,000 votes were changed after the record vote took place. Of all the lawmakers who changed their votes, two did so far more frequently than their colleagues.

You can find the raw data related to vote changes here.

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“Best” Actor Award

Another first-time recognition as a part of the Fiscal Responsibility Index is that of the “Best” Actor Award.

Every legislative session, one of the best ways for legislation to reach its demise is by having time used against it. This means that in order to “kill” bills, there must be a coordinated effort to run out the clock. There are many ways that lawmakers do this; some tell horrible and cringe jokes, some pretend to haze one another, and some grandstand and cry crocodile tears to score easy social media clips.

State Rep. Ron Reynolds
(D–Missouri City)

This session, our “Best” Actor Award goes to a convicted felon, State Rep. Ron Reynolds (D–Missouri City). To be clear, this is not to say that Reynolds is in fact a good actor (truth be told, he lacks charisma). But during the faux deliberations on Senate Bill 17, or the legislation that sought to end Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) practices in higher education, Reynolds made the case that banning DEI (itself being a racist practice) would somehow usher in “white supremacy.” Quite hyperbolic, to say the absolute least.

Check out this “award-winning” performance:

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Off-the-Fiscal-Cliff Award

Which lawmakers had the largest drop in score on the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Index?

Both lawmakers have previously earned high scores on our Fiscal Index. Their drop-in score as reflected in this session’s Index is concerning, and we are hopeful it does not amount to a terrible trend on behalf of the taxpayers in their districts.

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Bad Bill of the Session Recognition

The 88th Legislative Session was one of the most fiscally irresponsible sessions in Texas history. State lawmakers increased spending more than at any other point in Texas history, and perhaps one of the reasons why was this cycle’s Bad Bill of the Session.

Ultimately, the Bad Bill of the Session recognition goes to House Bill 5, authored by Republican State Rep. Todd Hunter (Corpus Christi). HB 5 is a revival of the recently ended Chapter 313 property tax abatement program, which lawmakers allowed to expire last legislative session and amounts to nothing more than corporate welfare at the expense of burdening individual property taxpayers.

State Rep. Todd Hunter
(R–Corpus Christi)

Both major political parties explicitly oppose corporate welfare in their state platforms. HB 5 used nearly $10 billion that could have instead been used to give individual property taxpayers much-needed tax relief.

Ultimately, what HB 5 represents is lawmakers deciding to give woke corporations tax abatements at the expense of Texas homeowners—in a year where a nearly $33 billion budget surplus provided a historic opportunity to put Texas on a path to the elimination of the property tax altogether.

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Forgettable Award

Who are some lawmakers you almost entirely forget exist in the Texas Legislature?

You would think you elect lawmakers to go advocate on your behalf, but it seems the following state representatives can only be expected to go along with the status quo.

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Cringiest Moment Recognition

There are a lot of “cringy” moments when it comes to observing the Texas Legislature. Whether it be the faux “hazing” that is done to new lawmakers as they present their first pieces of legislation or the delay tactics by both Republican and Democrat lawmakers attempting to stifle legislation on the day’s calendar, there is no shortage of cringe.

For the 2023 Fiscal Responsibility Index, it was difficult to narrow down to just one “cringy” moment, but we believe this clip truly encapsulates the feeling. Here you have a bipartisan coalition of Texas House lawmakers donning cowboy hats, saying “howdy,” and then desperately asking for applause.

It is always difficult to imagine the feelings of public observers who sit in the House or Senate gallery, hoping to see lawmakers “in action” for the first time and instead witnessing such shenanigans.

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Best Point of Order

This session, TFR decided to recognize the best use of a procedural maneuver that has the power to kill legislation and change the outcomes of the session entirely. There are lawmakers and staff that spend hours combing through legislation they dislike in an attempt to find a point of order, thereby endeavoring to end its legislative prospects.

If a point of order is sustained, the legislation gets sent back to the committee by which it was originally heard. This is often a death sentence for legislation as it runs up against the legislative clock. There were some impactful points of order called this session, including a successful point of order called by a Democrat House lawmaker on House Bill 20 (the House speaker’s priority legislation seeking to establish a Border Protection Unit to address the ever-growing border security issue). Unfortunately, the aforementioned point of order was not good enough to make the cut, despite its relevance.

The point of order we thought was worth recognizing was one that took wit and determination. Check out the clip:

State Rep. Richard Hayes (R–Hickory Creek)

This point of order was called by freshman Republican State Rep. Richard Hayes. Of course, it was not sustained, but it definitely made for a lively moment.

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