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Rep. Alcee Hastings’s 2015 Report Card

Representative from Florida's 20th District
Democrat
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Apr 6, 2021

These year-end statistics cover Hastings’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare him to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 9, 2016.

A higher or lower number below doesn’t necessarily make this legislator any better or worse, or more or less effective, than other Members of Congress. We present these statistics for you to understand the quantitative aspects of Hastings’s legislative career and make your own judgements based on what activities you think are important.

Keep in mind that there are many important aspects of being a legislator besides what can be measured, such as constituent services and performing oversight of the executive branch, which aren’t reflected here.

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Ranked most politically left compared to Florida Delegation

Our unique ideology analysis assigns a score to Members of Congress according to their legislative behavior by how similar the pattern of bills and resolutions they cosponsor are to other Members of Congress.

For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in 2015 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Hastings’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (5th percentile); House Democrats (8th percentile); Safe House Seats (4th percentile); All Representatives (3rd percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 4th most bills compared to All Representatives

Hastings cosponsored 540 bills and resolutions introduced by other Members of Congress. Cosponsorship shows a willingness to work with others to advance policy goals. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (96th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (98th percentile); House Democrats (98th percentile); Safe House Seats (99th percentile); All Representatives (99th percentile).

 

Supported government transparency the 3rd most often compared to Florida Delegation (tied with 3 others)

GovTrack looked at whether Hastings supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Hastings 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Hastings cosponsored H.R. 20: Government By the People Act …; H.R. 3838: Fairness in Incarcerated Representation Act

Compare to all Florida Delegation (78th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (59th percentile); House Democrats (31st percentile); Safe House Seats (62nd percentile); All Representatives (65th percentile).

 

Got the 5th most cosponsors on their bills compared to Florida Delegation

Hastings’s bills and resolutions had 288 cosponsors in 2015. Securing cosponsors is an important part of getting support for a bill, although having more cosponsors does not always mean a bill will get a vote. View Bills »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (81st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (69th percentile); House Democrats (76th percentile); Safe House Seats (76th percentile); All Representatives (77th percentile).

 

Ranked the 30th top leader compared to House Democrats

Our unique leadership analysis looks at who is cosponsoring whose bills. A higher score shows a greater ability to get cosponsors on bills.

For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in 2015 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Hastings’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (63rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (66th percentile); House Democrats (84th percentile); Safe House Seats (69th percentile); All Representatives (71st percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 28th most often compared to House Democrats (tied with 15 others)

4 of Hastings’s bills and resolutions in 2015 had a cosponsor who was a chair or ranking member of a committee that the bill was referred to. Getting support from committee leaders on relevant committees is a crucial step in moving legislation forward.

Those bills were: H.Res. 123: Expressing support for designation of …; H.Res. 130: To express the sense of …; H.Res. 211: Expressing the sense of the …; H.R. 2268: Ending Corporal Punishment in Schools …

Compare to all Florida Delegation (74th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (69th percentile); House Democrats (78th percentile); Safe House Seats (75th percentile); All Representatives (76th percentile).

 

Got bicameral support on the 40th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 26 others)

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 4 of Hastings’s bills and resolutions had a companion bill in the Senate. Working with a sponsor in the other chamber makes a bill more likely to be passed by both the House and Senate.

Those bills were: H.Res. 130: To express the sense of …; H.R. 277: Defend Israel by Defunding Palestinian …; H.R. 839: Lena Horne Recognition Act; H.R. 4253: Avonte’s Law Act of 2015

Compare to all Florida Delegation (81st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (84th percentile); House Democrats (85th percentile); Safe House Seats (84th percentile); All Representatives (85th percentile).

Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service.
 

Was 86th most absent in votes compared to All Representatives (tied with 5 others)

Hastings missed 4.5% of votes (32 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Hastings’s Profile »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (70th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (72nd percentile); Safe House Seats (77th percentile); All Representatives (79th percentile).

The Speaker of the House, per current House rules, is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings” and is never recorded as missing a vote, and may not be included in the comparison with other representatives if not voting. The delegates from the five island territories and the District of Columbia are not eligible to vote in most roll call votes and so may not appear here if not elligible for any vote during the time period of these statistics.
 

Introduced the 94th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 14 others)

Hastings introduced 15 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (70th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (65th percentile); House Democrats (74th percentile); Safe House Seats (75th percentile); All Representatives (75th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Hastings introduced 0 bills that became law in 2015. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

A bill or joint resolution is considered enacted if it or an exactly identical bill to it is enacted as law. We only consider bills that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively.
 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Hastings introduced 0 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

Hastings tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 33% of Hastings’s 15 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015.

Compare to all Florida Delegation (43rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (52nd percentile); House Democrats (54th percentile); Safe House Seats (45th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile).

Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.
 

Committee Positions

Hastings held a leadership position on 0 committees and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Hastings’s Profile »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (44th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (17th percentile); House Democrats (38th percentile); Safe House Seats (36th percentile); All Representatives (38th percentile).

 

Joining Bipartisan Bills

Of the 540 bills that Hastings cosponsored, 26% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Florida Delegation (67th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (64th percentile); House Democrats (33rd percentile); Safe House Seats (69th percentile); All Representatives (68th percentile).

Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.

Additional Notes

Leadership/Ideology: The leadership and ideology scores are not displayed for Members of Congress who introduced fewer than 10 bills, or, for ideology, for Members of Congress that have a low leadership score, as there is usually not enough data in these cases to compute reliable leadership and ideology statistics.

Missing Bills: We exclude bills from some statistics where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill because the bill’s text was replaced in whole with unrelated provisions (i.e. it became a vehicle for passage of unrelated provisions).

Ranking Members (RkMembs): The chair of a committee is always selected from the political party that holds the most seats in the chamber, called the “majority party”. The “ranking member” (sometimes “RkMembs”) is the title given to the senior-most member of the committee not in the majority party.

Freshmen/Sophomores: Freshmen and sophomores are Members of Congress whose first term (in the same chamber at the end of 2015) was the 114th Congress (freshmen) or 113th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.