Sen. Brian Schatz’s 2019 Report Card
Senior
Senator
from Hawaii
Democrat
Serving Dec 27, 2012 – Jan 3, 2029
These year-end statistics cover Schatz’s record during the 2019 legislative year (Jan 3, 2019-Dec 31, 2019) and compare him to other senators serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 18, 2020.
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 Schatz’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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Cosponsored the 6th fewest bills compared to Senate DemocratsSchatz cosponsored 219 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 Senate Democrats (11th percentile); All Senators (47th percentile). |
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Got bicameral support on the 13th most bills compared to All Senators (tied with 4 others)The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: S. 445: Veterans Medical Marijuana Safe Harbor …; S. 489: State Public Option Act; S. 530: Federal Labor-Management Partnership Act of …; S. 647: Wall Street Tax Act of …; S. 672: Debt-Free College Act of 2019; S. 732: AMBER Alert Nationwide Act of …; S. 943: College Equity Act of 2019; S. 1074: Restoring Education And Learning Act …; S. 1222: COFA Veterans Review Act of …; S. 1258: Tobacco to 21 Act; S. 1337: PREP Act; S. 1338: Beyond the Box for Higher …; S. 1363: AI in Government Act of …; S. 1413: END Network Abuse Act of …; S. 1553: End the Threat of Default …; S. 1991: Restore Honor to Service Members …; S. 2007: Ensuring Equal Access to Shelter …; S. 2286: Improving Justice Programs through Science …; S. 2741: Creating Opportunities Now for Necessary … Compare to all Senate Democrats (69th percentile); All Senators (83rd percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Got the 17th most cosponsors on their bills compared to All SenatorsSchatz’s bills and resolutions had 417 cosponsors in 2019. 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 Senate Democrats (69th percentile); All Senators (83rd percentile). |
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Got influential cosponsors the 15th most often compared to All Senators (tied with 8 others)8 of Schatz’s bills and resolutions in 2019 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: S. 72: Federal Employees Civil Relief Act; S. 358: Census IDEA Act; S. 1156: Requiring Every American Defense Installation …; S. 1363: AI in Government Act of …; S. 1553: End the Threat of Default …; S. 2007: Ensuring Equal Access to Shelter …; S. 2956: Investing in America’s Digital Infrastructure …; S.J.Res. 17: A joint resolution proposing an … Compare to all Senate Democrats (69th percentile); All Senators (77th percentile). |
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Ranked 22nd most politically left compared to All SenatorsOur 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 2019 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Schatz’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Democrats (44th percentile); All Senators (21st percentile). |
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Laws EnactedSchatz introduced 0 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2019. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. Compare to all Senate Democrats (0th percentile); All Senators (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 IntroducedSchatz introduced 43 bills and resolutions in 2019. View Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (47th percentile); All Senators (68th percentile). |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Schatz introduced 5 bills in 2019 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: S. 1363: AI in Government Act of …; S. 2693: Reliable Emergency Alert Distribution Improvement …; S.Res. 333: A resolution instructing the managers …; S.Con.Res. 14: A concurrent resolution authorizing the …; S.Con.Res. 31: A concurrent resolution recognizing the … Compare to all Senate Democrats (36th percentile); All Senators (32nd percentile). |
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Writing Bipartisan BillsIn this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 17 of Schatz’s 43 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Schatz caucused with in 2019. Compare to all Senate Democrats (51st percentile); All Senators (55th percentile). Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic. |
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Committee PositionsSchatz held a leadership position on 0 committees and 2 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Schatz’s Profile » Compare to all Senate Democrats (18th percentile); All Senators (20th percentile). |
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Joining Bipartisan BillsOf the 219 bills that Schatz cosponsored, 25% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Senate Democrats (51st percentile); All Senators (42nd 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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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 2019 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Schatz’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Senate Democrats (64th percentile); All Senators (71st percentile). |
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Missed VotesSchatz missed 0.9% of votes (4 of 428 votes) in 2019. View Schatz’s Profile » Compare to all All Senators (40th 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 2019) was the 116th Congress (freshmen) or 115th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
