Rep. Chris Collins’s 2017 Report Card
Representative
from New York's 27th District
Republican
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Oct 1, 2019
These year-end statistics cover Collins’s record during the 2017 legislative year (Jan 3, 2017-Dec 31, 2017) and compare him to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 6, 2018.
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 Collins’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 right compared to New York DelegationOur 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 2017 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Collins’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all New York Delegation (96th percentile); House Republicans (51st percentile); All Representatives (73rd percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 2nd fewest bills compared to New York DelegationCollins cosponsored 164 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 (4th percentile); House Republicans (66th percentile); All Representatives (40th percentile). |
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Was 3rd most absent in votes compared to New York DelegationCollins missed 5.6% of votes (40 of 710 votes) in 2017. View Collins’s Profile » Compare to all New York Delegation (89th percentile); All Representatives (84th 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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Joined bipartisan bills the 5th least often compared to New York DelegationOf the 164 bills that Collins cosponsored, 18% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all New York Delegation (15th percentile); House Republicans (76th percentile); All Representatives (45th 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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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 7th fewest bills compared to New York Delegation (tied with 1 other)In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 3 of Collins’s 13 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2017. Compare to all New York Delegation (22nd percentile); House Republicans (34th percentile); All Representatives (37th percentile). |
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Got the 34th most cosponsors on their bills compared to House RepublicansCollins’s bills and resolutions had 380 cosponsors in 2017. 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 (70th percentile); House Republicans (86th percentile); All Representatives (85th percentile). |
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Ranked the 48th top leader compared to All RepresentativesOur 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 2017 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Collins’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all New York Delegation (81st percentile); House Republicans (83rd percentile); All Representatives (89th percentile). |
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Laws EnactedCollins introduced 0 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in 2017. 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); House Republicans (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 IntroducedCollins introduced 13 bills and resolutions in 2017. View Bills » Compare to all New York Delegation (33rd percentile); House Republicans (59th percentile); All Representatives (57th percentile). |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Collins introduced 1 bill in 2017 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Those bills were: H.R. 931: Firefighter Cancer Registry Act of … Compare to all New York Delegation (30th percentile); House Republicans (13th percentile); All Representatives (29th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors2 of Collins’s bills and resolutions in 2017 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. 931: Firefighter Cancer Registry Act of …; H.R. 1825: Home Health Care Planning Improvement … Compare to all New York Delegation (33rd percentile); House Republicans (47th percentile); All Representatives (44th 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. 931: Firefighter Cancer Registry Act of …; H.R. 1825: Home Health Care Planning Improvement … Compare to all New York Delegation (56th percentile); House Republicans (52nd percentile); All Representatives (54th percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Committee PositionsCollins held a leadership position on 0 committees and 0 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Collins’s Profile » Compare to all New York Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Government TransparencyGovTrack looked at whether Collins supported any of 21 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Collins 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Compare to all New York Delegation (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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 2017) was the 115th Congress (freshmen) or 114th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.
