California Gov Newsom Flunks Freedom Test: Ranks One of the Worst Governors in America

California Governor Gavin Newsom, who so desperately wants to be the next U.S. President, is ranked the 48th worst governor in the country, according to a new report by The CATO Institute. He is only slightly less awful than Hawaii Governor Josh Green, and New York Governor Kathy Hochul.

The entire State of California didn’t fare well either on CATO’s freedom scale – the Once Golden State was ranked 44th, receiving an “F” grade, or only 1.95 out of 10 possible points, in the overall freedom score.

CATO graded governors and their state policies on Firearm Freedom, Fiscal Burden, Housing Freedom, Medical Freedom, and Tech and Consumer Freedom.

In First Place, Arizona received 10 points in the overall freedom score. In Second Place, Montana received 9.68 and in Third Place, Nevada received 8.63 out of 10 points for overall freedom.

California’s Governor Gavin Newsom brought home the Booby Prize, only getting 22.23% of the overall freedom percentage, a dismal 0.95 out of 10 possible points in overall freedom score, and a “F” grade.

Even worse yet, California was ranked 48th in “economic freedom.” But wait! Isn’t California the 4th largest economy in the world, as we are frequently reminded by American’s 48th worst governor?

California ranked 50th for Firearm Freedom.

California received a “D” grade and ranked 47th for Fiscal burden – “a measure of the financial resources commanded by state and local governments. The most common measures are government spending levels and the tax burden.”

California received a “D” grade and ranked 27th for Education Freedom, “measures the degree to which a state expands or restricts the freedom of parents and students to choose the educational path—public, charter, private, or home-based—that best fits their needs.”

California only received 47.71% in the Personal Freedom percentage category, and 3.26 out of 10 in the Personal Freedom Score, which is a “D” grade. CATO says grades are based on an average of the scores in the following categories:

Education Freedom

Firearm Freedom

Freedom from Law Enforcement Overreach

Freedom of Speech and Association

Medical Freedom

Recreational Freedom

California received 6.33 out of 10 in the Freedom of Speech and Association category, a “C” grade. We will see how California fares after the Stop Nick Shirley Act is litigated.

California scored a “B” grade in the Freedom from Law Enforcement Overreach category, with 8.13 out of 10 points, and landing in 7th place.

So what constitutes high overall freedom marks?

CATO explains:

The top-scoring governor is Greg Gianforte (R) of Montana. He is the only governor to earn an A overall. He ranks within the top five governors in five categories (Firearm Freedom, Fiscal Burden, Housing Freedom, Medical Freedom, and Tech and Consumer Freedom). His strongest score comes from pushing housing reforms in his state. He also earns high marks for expanding medical freedom by signing into law a repeal of the state’s “certificate of need” laws for almost all health services and facilities in the state and for making permanent the telehealth expansions for both patients and practitioners that were first enacted on a temporary basis in 2020 in response to the spread of COVID-19. In the Tech and Consumer Freedom category, Gianforte receives credit for signing into law a unique “freedom to compute” law that establishes a statutory right to own and use computing technologies, including artificial intelligence, and appends to government restrictions on that right a legal standard resembling strict constitutional scrutiny—the same standard that applies to First Amendment rights.

Here are the top 10 and bottom 10 in Governor Overall Freedom, and State in Overall Freedom:

Here is where you can read CATO Institute’s “Freedom in the 50 States.” It’s going to be a while before another California Governor is elected President.