Letter From the President of the Idaho Freedom Foundation, Ronald Nate
Welcome to the 2026 Idaho Freedom Index! In its 14th year, the Idaho Freedom Index remains the most comprehensive and powerful indicator of how our legislators’ votes reflect the principles of restoring liberty, protecting rights, limiting government, reducing taxes, and honoring the Constitution. It is the “true north” for assessing the performance of the legislature and, more specifically, seeing how legislators either promote freedom principles or undermine them.
I have the unique perspective of holding several roles in public policy and the Idaho policy process. I’ve been a citizen taxpayer, a Ph.D. economics professor for 25 years, a three-term legislator, a senior policy analyst, and now the president of the Idaho Freedom Foundation. I know what good policy looks like and I also know the pressures and conflicts put on a legislator who must cast yea or nay votes on every bill.
Based on my experience in these areas, I can say the Idaho Freedom Index provides legislators with essential information and details about the bills before them. Legislators can’t possibly read every bill, but the Idaho Freedom Foundation can and does. The dispassionate, objective analysis from IFF works to help legislators make their best votes based on the information from our metrics of solid conservative values, Constitutional integrity, and fiscal restraint.
To understand how the Freedom Index works, go to page 2-5 for the process and the entire set of metrics each bill is weighed against. The analysis of each rated bill simply squares the bill with the freedom metrics. If you agree with the metrics, you will undoubtedly agree with virtually all the bill ratings and the legislator grades that follow.
In addition to the Idaho Freedom Index, we have another, similar measure to track bills and legislators on how they adhere to the principles of fiscal restraint (the Idaho Spending Index). Again, these indices are the true north for tracking state legislators. No other state policy center does this–only the Idaho Freedom Foundation.
Ultimately, the actions and votes of the legislators determine Idaho policy. Let’s look at the results this year. The 2026 legislative session was one of the most ineffectual and disappointing legislative sessions I can recall. We have seen Idaho’s budget woes getting worse, a persistent distrust of free markets, inane bills advancing while good bills get drawered, increasing dependence on federal spending, heightened emphasis on government programs for every problem imaginable, more attacks on freedom of speech, and a historic disregard for structuring our budget toward fiscal responsibility.
These unfortunate results are reflected in the overall averages on the Idaho Freedom Index and in the Idaho Spending Index (0 to 100 scale). For the legislature as a whole, the average Freedom Index was 61.5 (D-), and the Spending Index was 38 (F). Compared to last year, the 2026 legislature lost 4.1 points in freedom and was essentially flat in spending. The legislature gave us less freedom, more government, and is spending just like it has before.
Our Freedom Index, apart from the overall legislature outcomes, gives the most accurate assessment of how legislators themselves support or oppose freedom based on their votes.
So, even though the legislature as a whole has not been particularly conservative or freedom-oriented, we can see there are a few all-star legislators who hold the line (page 9). We also see the cellar-dwellers on the index who seem to work against the values of freedom and limited government (pages 19-20).
Despite being a so-called “red state,” many legislators (regardless of political party) vote along liberal lines, scoring in the F range of the Index. We have serious work to do to restore freedom in Idaho.
Many of the positive results of the IFF Freedom and Spending Index extend beyond legislator scores. The legislation, the bills, that succeed or fail are often related to the Freedom Index ratings assigned by our policy team. Bills with negative ratings do not pass the legislature and get signed as often as bills with positive ratings. Legislators often use the ratings as a guide for whether bills are good or bad. So you can see how the Index works for Idaho: we get better legislators, those legislators are incentivized to vote better, and better bills end up moving through the legislature.
The Idaho Freedom Index and the Spending Index inform all of Idaho on how the legislature works and more importantly how each legislator performs. We ask that you carefully review the Index and the scores as you evaluate office holders and ask that you consider supporting the Idaho Freedom Foundation in its efforts. We appreciate your involvement!
In liberty, with firm reliance on our Creator,
Ronald M. Nate, Ph.D.
President, Idaho Freedom Foundation
