Rep. Bonnie Watson Coleman’s 2016 Report Card
Representative
from New Jersey's 12th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 6, 2015 – Jan 3, 2025
These statistics cover Watson Coleman’s record during the 114th Congress (Jan 6, 2015-Jan 3, 2017) and compare her to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Aug 24, 2017. The statistics were updated on Jan 20, 2017 and Aug 24, 2017 to improve how we counted enacted laws. Originally published on Jan 7, 2017.
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 Watson Coleman’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 House FreshmenOur 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 the 114th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Watson Coleman’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (0th percentile); House Democrats (8th percentile); All Representatives (3rd percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the fewest bills compared to New Jersey DelegationIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 1 of Watson Coleman’s 17 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress. Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (11th percentile); House Democrats (4th percentile); All Representatives (5th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the fewest bills compared to New Jersey Delegation (tied with 1 other)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Supported government transparency the 2nd most often compared to New Jersey Delegation (tied with 1 other)GovTrack looked at whether Watson Coleman supported any of 40 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Watson Coleman 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Watson Coleman cosponsored H.R. 430: DISCLOSE 2015 Act; H.R. 20: Government By the People Act …; H.R. 3838: Fairness in Incarcerated Representation Act Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (75th percentile); House Freshmen (74th percentile); House Democrats (36th percentile); All Representatives (67th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 4th most bills compared to House FreshmenWatson Coleman cosponsored 448 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 New Jersey Delegation (92nd percentile); House Freshmen (94th percentile); House Democrats (74th percentile); All Representatives (88th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 10th least often compared to House DemocratsOf the 448 bills that Watson Coleman cosponsored, 18% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (8th percentile); House Freshmen (55th percentile); House Democrats (5th percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Introduced the 15th most bills compared to House FreshmenWatson Coleman introduced 17 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills » Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (50th percentile); House Freshmen (77th percentile); House Democrats (49th percentile); All Representatives (55th percentile). |
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Got the 15th most cosponsors on their bills compared to House FreshmenWatson Coleman’s bills and resolutions had 218 cosponsors in the 114th Congress. 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 New Jersey Delegation (50th percentile); House Freshmen (77th percentile); House Democrats (51st percentile); All Representatives (53rd percentile). |
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Was 107th most present in votes compared to All Representatives (tied with 9 others)Watson Coleman missed 1.1% of votes (15 of 1,325 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Watson Coleman’s Profile » Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (25th percentile); House Freshmen (38th percentile); All Representatives (25th 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. |
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Laws EnactedWatson Coleman introduced 0 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 114th Congress. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). The legislator must be the primary sponsor of the bill or joint resolution that was enacted or the primary sponsor of a bill or joint resolution for which at least about one third of its text was incorporated into another bill or joint resolution that was enacted as law, as determined by an automated analysis. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. We also exclude bills where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill. |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Watson Coleman introduced 3 bills in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 1646: Homeland Security Drone Assessment and …; H.R. 4398: DHS Acquisition Documentation Integrity Act …; H.R. 5385: Quadrennial Homeland Security Review Technical … Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (58th percentile); House Freshmen (67th percentile); House Democrats (91st percentile); All Representatives (69th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors4 of Watson Coleman’s bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress 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.R. 1646: Homeland Security Drone Assessment and …; H.R. 2283: Stop Online Ammunition Sales Act …; H.R. 2866: Healthy MOM Act; H.R. 4398: DHS Acquisition Documentation Integrity Act … Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (50th percentile); House Freshmen (71st percentile); House Democrats (56th percentile); All Representatives (60th percentile). |
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Committee PositionsWatson Coleman 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 Watson Coleman’s Profile » Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (17th percentile); House Freshmen (56th percentile); House Democrats (39th percentile); All Representatives (39th percentile). |
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Leadership ScoreOur 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 the 114th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Watson Coleman’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all New Jersey Delegation (33rd percentile); House Freshmen (56th percentile); House Democrats (45th percentile); All Representatives (34th percentile). |
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 the 114th Congress) 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.
