Rohrabacher was the representative for California’s 48th congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 2013 to 2018.
He was previously the representative for California’s 46th congressional district as a Republican from 2003 to 2012; the representative for California’s 45th congressional district as a Republican from 1993 to 2002; and the representative for California’s 42nd congressional district as a Republican from 1989 to 1992.
![Photo of Rep. Dana Rohrabacher [R-CA48, 2013-2018]](/static/legislator-photos/400343-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2018 Report Card for Rohrabacher.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Rohrabacher is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2018 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 Rohrabacher sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2013 to Dec 21, 2018. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Enacted Legislation
Rohrabacher was the primary sponsor of 5 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 6650 (115th): National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Reauthorization Act of 2018
- H.R. 5382 (108th): Commercial Space Launch Amendments Act of 2004
- H.R. 2607 (106th): Commercial Space Transportation Competitiveness Act of 2000
- H.R. 1654 (106th): National Aeronautics and Space Administration Authorization Act of 2000
- H.J.Res. 146 (102nd): Disapproving the action of the District of Columbia Council in approving the Schedule of Heights Amendment Act of 1990.
Does 5 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
Rohrabacher sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
International Affairs (50%) Immigration (17%) Taxation (13%) Crime and Law Enforcement (7%) Science, Technology, Communications (7%) Social Welfare (7%)
Recent Bills
Some of Rohrabacher’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 6650 (115th): National Earthquake Hazards Reduction Program Reauthorization Act of 2018
- H.R. 6558 (115th): NO NOISE Act
- H.R. 6557 (115th): Inventor Protection Act
- H.Res. 979 (115th): Expressing support for the Iranian people’s continuing protests, fundamental human rights, and ...
- H.Con.Res. 124 (115th): Expressing the sense of Congress that the United States should resume normal ...
- H.Res. 932 (115th): Expressing solidarity with the Tuidang Movement whereby Chinese citizens renounce their ties ...
- H.R. 5872 (115th): To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to increase the limitation ...
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1989 to Dec 2018, Rohrabacher missed 728 of 19,006 roll call votes, which is 3.8%. This is worse than the median of 2.5% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2018. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses and major life events.
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
- United States Congressional Roll Call Voting Records, 1789-1990 by Howard L. Rosenthal and Keith T. Poole.
- Martis’s “The Historical Atlas of Political Parties in the United States Congress”, via Keith Poole’s roll call votes data set, for political party affiliation for Members of Congress from 1789 through about year 2000
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
