Cardoza was the representative for California’s 18th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 2003 to 2012.
![Photo of Rep. Dennis Cardoza [D-CA18, 2003-2012]](/static/legislator-photos/400065-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Cardoza is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2013 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 Cardoza sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 4, 2007 to Jan 1, 2013. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Cardoza was the primary sponsor of 1 bill that was enacted:
Does 1 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
Cardoza sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (21%) Agriculture and Food (14%) Crime and Law Enforcement (13%) Housing and Community Development (13%) Economics and Public Finance (11%) Commerce (10%) Social Welfare (9%) Finance and Financial Sector (9%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Cardoza recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 1598 (112th): Solar Opportunity and Local Access Rights Act
- H.R. 1175 (112th): Oleoresin Capsicum Spray Pilot Program Act of 2011
- H.R. 363 (112th): Housing Opportunity and Mortgage Equity Act of 2011
- H.R. 106 (112th): Public Official Accountability Act
- H.Res. 1668 (111th): Recognizing the 100th anniversary of the formation of the California Almond Growers …
- H.R. 6218 (111th): Housing Opportunity and Mortgage Equity Act of 2010
- H.Res. 1558 (111th): Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that fruit and vegetable …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2003 to Aug 2012, Cardoza missed 546 of 7,469 roll call votes, which is 7.3%. This is much worse than the median of 2.6% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Aug 2012. 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
- Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
