Rep. Brian Higgins’s 2015 Report Card
Representative
from New York's 26th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2025
These year-end statistics cover Higgins’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 Higgins’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 the 37th bottom/follower compared to Serving 10+ YearsOur 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 Higgins’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all New York Delegation (26th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (21st percentile); House Democrats (29th percentile); Safe House Seats (23rd percentile); All Representatives (25th percentile). |
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Ranked 90th most politically left compared to All RepresentativesOur 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 Higgins’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all New York Delegation (48th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (26th percentile); House Democrats (46th percentile); Safe House Seats (23rd percentile); All Representatives (20th percentile). |
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Joined bipartisan bills the 91st most often compared to All RepresentativesIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 244 bills that Higgins cosponsored, 31% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all New York Delegation (74th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (77th percentile); House Democrats (55th percentile); Safe House Seats (81st percentile); All Representatives (79th 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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Cosponsored the 95th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 4 others)Higgins cosponsored 244 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 York Delegation (59th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (76th percentile); House Democrats (56th percentile); Safe House Seats (76th percentile); All Representatives (78th percentile). |
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Introduced the 94th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 14 others)Higgins introduced 15 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills » Compare to all New York Delegation (63rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (65th percentile); House Democrats (74th percentile); Safe House Seats (75th percentile); All Representatives (75th percentile). |
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Laws EnactedHiggins 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 New York 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. |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Higgins introduced 1 bill in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 3350: Know the CBRN Terrorism Threats … Compare to all New York Delegation (48th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (45th percentile); House Democrats (66th percentile); Safe House Seats (45th percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors3 of Higgins’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. 307: Condemning the Republic of the …; H.R. 2855: Veterans Education Flexibility Act; H.R. 3350: Know the CBRN Terrorism Threats … Compare to all New York Delegation (52nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); House Democrats (57th percentile); Safe House Seats (61st percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile). |
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Working with the SenateThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 2536: Recovery Enhancement for Addiction Treatment … Compare to all New York Delegation (33rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (23rd percentile); House Democrats (30th percentile); Safe House Seats (29th percentile); All Representatives (29th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Writing Bipartisan BillsHiggins tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 33% of Higgins’s 15 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015. Compare to all New York Delegation (33rd 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. |
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Committee PositionsHiggins 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 Higgins’s Profile » Compare to all New York Delegation (37th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (17th percentile); House Democrats (38th percentile); Safe House Seats (36th percentile); All Representatives (38th percentile). |
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CosponsorsHiggins’s bills and resolutions had 98 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 New York Delegation (37th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (33rd percentile); House Democrats (40th percentile); Safe House Seats (39th percentile); All Representatives (40th percentile). |
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Missed VotesHiggins missed 1.7% of votes (12 of 699 votes) in 2015. View Higgins’s Profile » Compare to all New York Delegation (41st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (39th percentile); Safe House Seats (49th percentile); All Representatives (51st 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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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Higgins supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Higgins 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Higgins cosponsored H.R. 430: DISCLOSE 2015 Act Compare to all New York Delegation (33rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (41st percentile); House Democrats (9th percentile); Safe House Seats (41st percentile); All Representatives (43rd 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 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.
