Rep. Chris Collins
Former Representative for New York’s 27th District
pronounced kriss // KAH-linz
Collins was the representative for New York’s 27th congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 2013 to 2019.
![Photo of Rep. Chris Collins [R-NY27, 2013-2019]](/static/legislator-photos/412563-200px.jpeg)
Misconduct
On Aug. 8, 2018, Collins was arrested and indicted on charges of insider trading of Innate stock by the FBI. He had been under investigation by the House Office of Congressional Ethics since 2017 for sharing material nonpublic information in the purchase of Innate stock, using his status to purchase discounted stock, and in 2013 directing an NIH employee to meet with Innate staff to discuss a clinical trial. He briefly suspended his reelection campaign, then unsuspended it and kept his seat. On Sept. 30, 2019, Collins resigned from Congress and on Oct. 1, 2019, he pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and lying to federal investigators. On December 22, 2020, Collins was pardoned by President Trump.
| Jul. 14, 2017 | Office of Congressional Ethics recommended further review by the House Committee on Ethics |
| Aug. 28, 2017 | House Committee on Ethics decided to extend the matter |
| Oct. 12, 2017 | House Committee on Ethics published the Office of Congressional Ethics Report and Findings and Rep. Collins's response |
| Aug. 8, 2018 | Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) arrested and indicted on charges of insider trading of Innate stock |
| Aug. 8, 2018 | House of Representatives removed Collins from the House Energy & Commerce Committee after he offered his resignation from the committee |
| Aug. 11, 2018 | Collins announced he would not run for re-election. |
| Sep. 6, 2018 | House Committee on Ethics established an Investigative Subcommittee and simultaneously deferred further investigation to the Department of Justice |
| Sep. 18, 2018 | Collins reversed his August decision and did run for reelection. |
| Nov. 6, 2018 | Collins won reelection. |
| May. 3, 2019 | House Committee on Ethics established an Investigative Subcommittee and simultaneously deferred further investigation to the Department of Justice |
| Sep. 30, 2019 | Collins resigned from Congress. |
| Oct. 1, 2019 | Collins pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit securities fraud and lying to federal investigators. |
| Dec. 22, 2020 | Pardoned by President Trump. |
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Collins is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2020 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 Collins sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Dec 28, 2020. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Collins was the primary sponsor of 6 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 5395 (115th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 116 Main Street in Dansville, New York, as the “Staff Sergeant Alexandria Gleason-Morrow Post Office …
- H.R. 931 (115th): Firefighter Cancer Registry Act of 2018
- H.R. 4372 (114th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 15 Rochester Street, Bergen, New York, as the Barry G. Miller Post Office.
- H.R. 3821 (114th): Medicaid DOC Act
- H.R. 2439 (114th): To amend the Public Health Service Act with respect to the Silvio O. Conte Senior Biomedical Research Service.
- H.R. 3472 (113th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 13127 Broadway Street in Alden, New York, as the “Sergeant Brett E. Gornewicz Memorial Post …
Does 6 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
Collins sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (48%) Government Operations and Politics (10%) Science, Technology, Communications (7%) Commerce (7%) Finance and Financial Sector (7%) Armed Forces and National Security (7%) Education (7%) Taxation (7%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Collins recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 4441 (116th): To amend titles 49 and 10, United States Code, to provide for …
- H.R. 3739 (116th): Red Light Act
- H.R. 3386 (116th): Protect the Uninsured Act of 2019
- H.R. 3231 (116th): Renovate and Enhance Veterans Meeting Halls and Posts Act of 2019
- H.R. 2801 (116th): Helping Labor Personnel on Farms Act
- H.R. 2165 (116th): 9-1-1 Fee Integrity Act
- H.R. 1726 (116th): Protecting Gun Owners in Bankruptcy Act of 2019
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2013 to Sep 2019, Collins missed 122 of 4,294 roll call votes, which is 2.8%. This is on par with the median of 2.3% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Sep 2019. 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.
Primary Sources
The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including:
- unitedstates/congress-legislators, a community project gathering congressional information
- The House and Senate websites, for committee membership and voting records
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
