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Sen. Brian Schatz

Senate Democratic Conference Deputy Secretary and Senator for Hawaii

pronounced BRĪ-in // shots

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Schatz is the senior senator from Hawaii and is a Democrat. He has served since Dec 27, 2012. Schatz is next up for reelection in 2028 and serves until Jan 3, 2029. He is 50 years old.

He is also Senate Democratic Conference Deputy Secretary, a party leadership role. Party leaders focus more on setting their party’s legislative priorties than on introducing legislation.

Photo of Sen. Brian Schatz [D-HI]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2022 Report Card for Schatz.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Schatz is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the Senate positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Schatz has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Mar 30, 2023. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

Brian Schatz sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Schatz was the primary sponsor of 15 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 15 not sound like a lot? Very few bills are ever enacted — most legislators sponsor only a handful that are signed into law. But there are other legislative activities that we don’t track that are also important, including offering amendments, committee work and oversight of the other branches, and constituent services.

We consider a bill enacted if one of the following is true: a) it is enacted itself, b) it has a companion bill in the other chamber (as identified by Congress) which was enacted, or c) if at least about half of its provisions were incorporated into bills that were enacted (as determined by an automated text analysis, applicable beginning with bills in the 110th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Schatz sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Government Operations and Politics (21%) Health (17%) Education (12%) Science, Technology, Communications (12%) Crime and Law Enforcement (11%) Armed Forces and National Security (10%) Commerce (9%) Native Americans (8%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Schatz recently introduced the following legislation:

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Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

As Senate Democratic Conference Deputy Secretary, Schatz may be focused on his responsibilities other than introducing legislation, such as setting the chamber’s agenda, uniting his party, and brokering deals.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Schatz voted Yea

Conference Report Agreed to 83/16 on Feb 14, 2019.
This bill, in its final form, funded the parts of the federal government whose funding was to lapse on February 15, 2019. On December 22, …

Schatz voted Yea

Nomination Confirmed 66/32 on Jan 23, 2017.
This vote confirmed Rep. Mike Pompeo (R-KS4), a three-term Congressman first elected in 2010, as Director of the Central Intelligence Agency. * * * Rep. …

Schatz voted Yea

Bill Passed 72/26 on Sep 28, 2016.
The Continuing Appropriations and Military Construction, Veterans Affairs, and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2017, and Zika Response and Preparedness Act (H.R. 5325) is an appropriations …

Schatz voted Yea

Joint Resolution Passed 78/22 on Sep 18, 2014.

Missed Votes

From Dec 2012 to Mar 2023, Schatz missed 117 of 3,523 roll call votes, which is 3.3%. This is worse than the median of 2.3% among the lifetime records of senators currently serving. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.

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Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: