ProgressNow Arizona Launches The Progress Score to Hold Legislators Accountable
Phoenix–Today ProgressNow Arizona, in collaboration with Arizona Advocacy Network, LUCHA, Indivisible Arizona, Sierra Club, CHISPA AZ, Planned Parenthood Arizona and many more, released its first ever Progress Score, a report card grading Arizona state legislators on how courageously they represented their constituents against the corporations and special interests in the 2019 legislative session. The Progress Score allows Arizonans to see their state representatives’ “Progress Score” on a scale of 0-100, along with a corresponding letter grade.
SEE THE 2019 PROGRESS SCORES HERE: https://progressscore.org
To develop Progress Scores we reached out to major progressive advocacy groups throughout Arizona and surveyed them to learn their top priority bills from the 2019 legislative session. We synthesized their responses into a list of priority bills, covering healthcare, education, reproductive rights, the environment, immigration and more.
Josselyn Berry, Co-Director of the ProgressNow Arizona, explained:
“It’s easy for politicians to say they’ll stand up for the people, but talk is cheap. We’re using the Progress Score to show which legislators are really standing up for the people and which ones are doing the bidding of corporate donors and their lobbyists. Legislators must work to make real, bold progress on the array of challenges our state faces — including woefully underfunded public schools and universities, a health care system that still puts profits over patients, a broken criminal justice system, climate change and more. With the Progress Score, ProgressNow Arizona is showing who is and is not willing to stand up to corporate interests and address the broken status quo. Our message is clear: we’re watching, scoring, and telling the world about it.”
“Indivisible Valley of the Sun works year round to empower Arizonans to make their voices heard, defend democracy and push for bold progressive change,” said Pinny Sheoran of Indivisible Valley of the Sun. “The Progress Score is the perfect tool for holding our state legislators accountable to the people and not the wealthy. Our Indivisible members are looking forward to thanking their legislators for voting like progressive champions of the people and calling out the Progress Preventers for voting against our progressive values. We’ll use the Progress Score to send the message loud and clear that we expect them to vote in the best interest of their constituents, not corporate special interests. “
“Sierra Club has been down at the Arizona Legislature for years and seen first hand how many of our Representatives act when they feel no one is paying attention,” said Sandy Bahr, Executive Director for Sierra Club Grand Canyon Chapter. “The Progress Score is going to be an invaluable tool to inform Sierra Club members and voters about whether or not their elected officials are standing up for issues they care about most, such as climate change, protecting public lands, and ensuring we have clean sustainable water for future generations, as well as keeping our democracy strong. Our members deserve to know who is fighting for these issues and who is fighting harder for corporate special interests and big money donors. The Progress Score will help us do just that.”
“Our legislators need to know the people are watching and paying attention. This session legislators continued their attacks on working families while refusing to hear bills that would help our communities, said Alejandra Gomez, Co-Director at LUCHA, Living United For Change Arizona. “Rather than support policies to fund our schools, expand voting rights, and protect healthcare, they instead worked to take away young people’s wages, and undermine democracy and voting rights. LUCHA is determined to hold these legislators accountable in and out of session and the Progress Score is another tool to engage and educate our communities.”
A full list of the bills used to calculate the 2019 Progress Score can be found here: https://progressscore.org/methodology
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