Courage Score - Courage California

Our annual Courage Score provides Californians with a comprehensive and clear account of the willingness of their elected officials to courageously stand up for and vote in the best interests of the people and families they serve — over the interests of corporate lobbyists with deep pockets, who exploit Californians and their communities. Courage Score gives voters the information needed, quickly and easily, to hold elected their officials accountable.

Courage Score Website

Methodology

Each year, Courage California reaches out to over 100 progressive advocacy organizations throughout California, surveying them on their priority bills from the year’s legislative session (January through August or September). We compile a comprehensive list of legislation on key issue areas including, but not limited to, health care, housing, criminal justice, immigrant rights, the environment, consumer protections, workers’ rights, and more. We narrow-in on “close-vote” legislation, selecting the 50-75 bills that passed or lost based on a few votes — out of the hundreds of bills considered each year — that required courage of our legislators.

Courage then catalogues how each legislator voted on these key pieces of legislation, taking into account the legislative process and circumstances specific to each bill. For example, voting ‘yes’ on a bill after it has been weakened substantially by amendments requires less courage than championing its original and strongest form. Sometimes, we determine if a bill should be included as part of the score or not, based on the circumstances, and we look at how legislators vote across bills to see if we can spotlight a pattern of voting behavior in our analysis. To ensure accuracy, we work with allies and Capitol staffers to thoroughly research and track the progress of each bill.

A full list of bills used to determine the 2020 Courage Scores can be found here.

All-Star vs. Hall of Shame

Each year, Courage evaluates how well each legislator represents their district by comparing their Courage Score to how progressive their district is. State Assemblymembers and Senators whose votes best reflect the interests of their constituents’ are designated our All-Stars. Legislators who are most at odds with their district are inducted into our Hall of Shame.

Once we calculate our Courage Scores, we determine a “Progressive District Ranking” for each of the 40 State Senate districts and 80 State Assembly districts. We look at how communities voted on ballot propositions over a ten-year period to assess where the districts stand in relative to each other, across the state, in terms of how progressive their votes are. Courage then compares a legislator’s Courage Score to their district ranking.

When an elected official repeatedly votes against the values of their constituents, they will likely have both a low Courage Score and find themselves in our Hall of Shame. All-Stars, on the other hand, consistently vote in line with their constituents, courageously upholding the values of those who put them in office. All-Stars earn a Courage Scores of 97 or above as testament to their relentless support for common-sense, progressive problem solving.

Vote With Courage

Courage California engages in this rigorous and collaborative process to ensure that Courage Score is a trusted and comprehensive tool for all Californians to determine the political courage of each state legislator and hold them accountable for their votes. See which representatives stand up and fight for you and which ones prioritize the needs and corporations and wealthy interests, instead.

Visit CourageScore.org to find out who your State Assemblymember and Senator are, see their scores and voting history, and discover who to hold accountable and who to celebrate as your champions.

Courage Score Website

Partners

Courage reaches out to over 100+ progressive organizations in California every year to determine our list of scorecard bills as well as to better understand what happens behind the scenes of each bill in the Legislature to provide our members with context. Our list of partners includes:

18 Million Rising
ACLU
Advancement Project
AFSCME State Council
Alliance for a Better Community's (ABC)
Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE)
Alliance San Diego
Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAJ)
Asian Pacific Environmental Network (APEN)
Bay Rising
Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence
Breast Cancer Prevention Partners (BCPP)
Budget Policy Center
Building Trades
CADEM Progressive Caucus
California Calls
California Donor Table
California Environmental Justice Alliance (CEJA)
California Federation of Teachers (CFT)
California Immigrant Policy Center (CIPC)
California Immigrant Youth Justice Alliance (CIYJA)
California Labor Federation
California League of Conservation Voters
California NOW
California Nurses Association (CNA)
California Reinvestment Coalition
California School Employees Association (CSEA)
California StateStrong (Indivisible coalition in California)
California Teachers Association (CTA)
Californians United for a Responsible Budget (CURB)
Caring Across Generations
Center for Biological Diversity
Center on Race, Poverty, and Environment
Central Coast Alliance United for a Sustainable Economy (CAUSE)
Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights (CHIRLA)
Color of Change
Communities for a New California (CNC)
Community Coalition
Congregations Organized for Prophetic Engagement (COPE)
Consumer Attorneys
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)-CA
Daily Kos
Davis Vanguard
Democracy for America (DFA)
Democratic Club of Orange County
Dolores Huerta Foundation (DHF)
Drug Policy Alliance (DPA)
East Yard Communities
Ella Baker Center
Environment California
Environmental Defense Fund (EDF)
Equal Rights Advocates
Equality California (EQCA)
Flip the 14th
Food & Water Watch
Health Access
Inner City Struggle
Jimmy Carter Club
Jobs with Justice
Justice Collaborative
Korean Resource Center
Low Income Consumers
Million Voters Project
MoveOn
mPOWER
NARAL Pro-Choice California
National Union of Healthcare Workers (NUHW)
Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC)
NextGen
Oakland Rising (OR)
Orange County Democratic Party
Orange County Labor Federation
Organize Sacramento
Physicians for Social Responsibility - Los Angeles
PICO California
Planned Parenthood
PolicyLink
Presente
Progressive Democratic Club
Progressive Democrats of America (PDA California)
Progressive Dems of Benicia
Public Advocates
RootsAction.org
SameSide
SEIU 2015 (formerly ULTCW)
SEIU CA
Services, Immigrant Rights, and Education Network (SIREN)
Sierra Club
Story of Stuff
Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE)
Student Debt Crisis
Sum of Us
Swing Left
Tenants Together
UCLA Labor Center
UltraViolet
United Domestic Workers (UDW)
United Farm Workers (UFW)
United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW)
Universal Income Project
UPTE CWA 9119
Voices for Progress
Western Center
Working Partnerships