Washington, D.C. – The Club for Growth Foundation has released its 2025 State Economic Scorecard for Texas, analyzing how lawmakers in the Lone Star State handle economic policies in Austin. Brandon Waltens from Texas Scorecard covered the release as an exclusive report.
The Scorecard analyzes policies and votes to assign an Economic Growth Score from 0 to 100, with 100 representing the highest support for pro-growth policies. In 2025, the Foundation reviewed over 6,000 floor votes, scoring 20 votes in the Texas House and 20 in the Texas Senate.
“In 2025, Texas emerged as a national leader in educational reform, passing an expansive school freedom bill that offers $1 billion in taxpayer funds to parents to choose the education that meets their child’s unique needs. This landmark legislation, along with a permanent repeal of the death tax and significant reforms to the State’s unemployment insurance program, marked major legislative wins for Texans,” said Club for Growth Foundation President David McIntosh. “However, despite these milestones, lawmakers passed a $24 billion budgetary surplus, authorized a $338 billion biennium budget—the largest in state history—allocating substantial funding increases for Medicaid programs and energy subsidies while ignoring property tax relief. Legislators must rein in spending to unleash economic growth for every Texan.”
Click here to read the full Texas State Economic Scorecard from the Club for Growth Foundation.
Key Highlights from the 2025 Texas Scorecard:
Texas Senate:
- Average Republican Score: 57%
- Average Democrat Score: 14%
- Highest Rated Republican(s): Sen. Bob Hall (SD-02): 69%
- Highest Rated Democrat(s): Sen. Borris Miles (SD-13): 23%
- Lowest Rated Republican(s): Sen. Robert Nichols (SD-03): 37%
- Lowest Rated Democrat(s): Sen. Nathan Johnson (SD-16): 5%
Texas House:
- Average Republican Score: 54%
- Average Democratic Score: 15%
- Highest Rated Republican(s): Rep. Brian Harrison (HD-10): 100%
- Highest Rated Democrats(s): Rep. Ana-Maria Rodriguez Ramos (HD-102): 48%
- Lowest Rated Republican(s): Rep. Dade Phelan (HD-21): 25%
- Lowest Rated Democrats(s): Rep. Erin Gamez (HD-38) and Rep. Trey Martinez Fischer (HD-106): 0%
Notable Pro-Growth Legislation:
HJR 2 – PERMANENT DEATH TAX REPEAL
- Facilitates a constitutional amendment to permanently ban a state death tax through a ballot referendum
- Prohibits the state Legislature from imposing a death tax on property or an inheritance tax on the transfer of an estate, legacy, succession, or gift from one family member, estate, or individual to another
- Prohibits the state Legislature from increasing an existing inheritance tax rate or expanding an existing inheritance tax beyond the current rate as of January 2, 2025
SB 2 – SIGNIFICANT SCHOOL CHOICE EXPANSION
- Implements a low-income educational savings account (ESA) program for eligible K-12 students in Texas
- Provides for $1 billion over the fiscal biennium to follow students to a participating school of their parents’ or guardians’ choice–including private education
- Parents in eligible households will have access to roughly $8,000 per year to use for tuition, books, and other related education expenses
SB 1950 – UNEMPLOYMENT INSURANCE REFORM
- Increases the number of weekly work search activities required to retain UI benefits to at least five per week
- Requires the Texas Workforce Commission to verify the accuracy of an individual’s reporting on their work requirements and conduct regular audits of employment databases, death certificates, and other identification networks to reduce fraud.
Notable Anti-Growth Legislation:
HB 2 – BIG SPENDING EDUCATION APPROPRIATIONS
- Expands FY2026-27 funding for the state’s K-12 government schools
- Spends an additional $8.5 billion for K-12 school operations, including $4 billion in meritless across-the-board teacher pay raises that range between $2,500 and $8,000 depending on the number of students in the school district, $500 million in additional pay increases for select administrative staff including counselors and librarians, and roughly $600 million in new spending to subsidize health insurance, transportation, and utility costs to the districts
HB 500 – SUPPLEMENTAL SPENDING BINGE
- Allocates an additional $13.7 billion in spending for the current fiscal year
- Allocates $1 billion to stabilize the state’s government employee pension system, $750 million in additional Medicaid spending, $300 million for the crony Space Exploration and Aeronautics Fund to reward hand-selected corporate entities, and $250 million in new subsidies to Hollywood
SB 1 – PROFLIGATE BIENNIAL BUDGET
- Allocates $338 billion in spending for FY2026-27, the largest budget in state history (a 5.2 percent increase over the previous biennial budget and a 43 percent increase since the FY2020-21 biennium)
- Includes $81 billion for the state Medicaid program, $450 million in new subsidies for teacher health insurance, $5 billion for the crony Texas Energy Fund subsidized loan program, yet another meritless across-the-board pay raise for government school teachers, and just $6 billion in property tax relief for overburdened taxpayers, representing a paltry 25 percent of the state’s $24 billion surplus
Note: This Scorecard is based on selected votes and does not reflect a legislator’s entire voting record. The Club for Growth Foundation does not endorse or oppose any legislator for public office.