O'Donnell Leads All House Lawmakers In 2020 Freedom Index

Rep. Terry O'Donnell

  The 2020 House Freedom Index is now published, to compare the lawmakers' commitment to restoring and protecting individual liberties in their powers to create and rescind laws.
  This year a member of the House leadership team Terry O'Donnell of the Tulsa metro delegation, led all scores with a +85, on a spectrum of 100 to +100.
  A person scoring a zero on this index is deemed to vote against freedom in half the scored floor votes.  A score of +50 on this index is equivalent to a +75 on many other indices that do not issue negative index scores.
  Once again, two House freshmen tied in the 2nd spot; along with Rep. Kevin West of the OKC metro delegation. The freshmen were rural lawmakers from eastern Oklahoma, David Hardin, and David Smith.
  Former Democrat, Johnny Tadlock was one of four Republicans tied for the 4th spot, along with Jim Olsen, Sean Roberts, & Judd Strom. Olsen & Strom are in their first 2-year term.  Tadlock completed his 3rd term, Roberts finished his 5th term.
  

  Unlike last year's inaugural index, the two major parties are not as clearly separated. Democrat Merleyn Bell scored 0, but that still put her as high or higher than 26 Republicans. Dell Kerbs was the lowest scoring Republican with a -40, which is worse that the worst Democrat in the 2019 index. Last year's average score was +28.8, but this year's score is a pathetic +6.8, which isn't small govt. creed.

Kevin West

David Hardin

David Smith

---

Criteria for scoring

  We look at hundreds of bills to find a good sampling of floor votes which represent a broad spectrum of freedoms and we evaluate how each lawlaker weighed & cast their votes. We also looked at how leaders of committees conducted themselves and the vast power they hold.
  We added bonus points for legislators who took the time to draft and promote bills which are essential to protecting & advancing constitutional liberty.
What is the Freedom Index? 
  The Freedom Index seeks to identify how diligent a lawmaker is, to protecting individual freedom for the people of Oklahoma. We gathered a set of various bills which indicate many forms of freedom. Free Speech, Self Defense, Free Association, Vocational Freedom Economic Freedom, Parental authority, Healthcare access and options. Travel and Privacy.

​How We Score the Lawmakers 
  We're using a scoring system that starts with a spectrum of -100 to +100, with 10 key floor bills in each chamber worth 10 points each. Unlike other indices which even award points for missed votes; This index awards 0 points for missed votes and -10 for votes deemed contrary to individual freedom & privacy. For comparison, Scoring a 70 in this index is sorta like scoring an 85 in most other indices.
What Are Bonus & Penalty Points?
  We award 5 bonus points for primary sponsors in each chamber, on bills that advance individual freedom in the bills included in this index. We also assess 5 penalty points to primary sponsors for bills that harm individual freedom & privacy.

 In addition, we selected a handful of other key Freedom bills which were left to die in committee during the spring session, without so much as a parliamentary motion allowed by the committee chair. That chairman who lets a key freedom bill sit unacted upon will be assessed a 5 point penalty to their own personal Freedom Score.

Senate Index Coming Soon!

The Senate Freedom Index will be published in the days ahead. 
  Our efforts to create a meaningful and accurate index was made very difficult by the compressed session and the number of 'omnibus bills' which combined many legislative pieces. It is always better to score 'clean bills' to identify core principles.

HB3613 - Privacy	SB1081 - Self Defense	SB1728 - Right to Life	SB1423 -Adult Prohibition	HJR1027 - Consent of the Governed
Bill Title: Privacy: creating the Personal Privacy Protection Act; prohibiting public agencies from disclosing certain personal affiliation information.. (in support of 4th amendment privacy of papers & effects & free associations )	Bill Title: Firearms; state preemption of future red flag laws. Emergency. (in support of 5th amendment due process of law, whereby a positive court finding is required in order to deprive a citizen of fundamental rights, listed in the US Constitution)	Bill Title: Abortion; creating the Unborn Person Wrongful Death Act; modifying requirements for award of certain damages; modifying persons with standing to bring certain actions. (in support of individual right to life, against selective abortion death)	Bill Title: Tobacco and vapor products; increasing legal age limits related to purchase, receipt, possession, sale or distribution. (Creating a partial adult prohibition of a broad class of products for personal consumption, including medically safe & therapeutic treatments, thereby curtailing fundamental personal liberty)	Bill Title: Constitutional amendment; changing the percentage of legal voters from statewide to every congressional district of the state for certain petitions. (adding a very expensive and logistical burden to citizens' constitutional rights in their effort to bring statutory & constitutional reforms when legislators refuse to take action)

HB2938 - Privacy	HB3088 - Forced Indoctrination of Bias	HB3873 - Parental Rights Removed	HB2791 - Punishing Drivers For Passenger Actions	SB1714 - Heavy Business Regulation
Bill Title: Public health; modifying certain exception relating to confidential information; (aligning the state law with federal enforcement of individual constitutional rights, in privacy of papers & effects)	Bill Title: Maternal and infant mortality; requiring implicit bias training; (mandating propaganda indoctrination as a licensing requirement of healthcare providers, blaming white prejudice as the cause of poor minority infant health)	Bill Title: Marriage; eligibility to marry; eliminating exceptions to age requirement; marriage licenses; (Eroding parental rights & discretion in granting emancipation under the guise of a youth's claimed desire to marry, Allowing judges to usurp parental role, under the assumption of an arranged & forced marriages)	Bill Title: Motor vehicles; child passenger restraint systems; modifying age requirements for use of certain restraint systems. (Removing driver's discretion in transporting older youth, and punishes driver if a rear passenger removes personal restraints while traveling)	Bill Title: Homemade food products; renaming the Home Bakery Act of 2013; modifying definitions of act; authorizing production and sale of certain foods. (Removes heavy & expensive burdens to cottage industry in food productions & preparations; while still holding safety standards)