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Rep. Doris Matsui’s 2015 Report Card

Representative from California's 6th District
Democrat
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2023

These year-end statistics cover Matsui’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare her to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 9, 2016.

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 Matsui’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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Was 7th most present in votes compared to California Delegation (tied with 2 others)

Matsui missed 0.4% of votes (3 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Matsui’s Profile »

Compare to all California Delegation (11th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (12th percentile); Safe House Seats (13th percentile); All Representatives (14th 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.
 

Ranked the 32nd bottom/follower compared to Serving 10+ Years

Our 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 2015 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Matsui’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all California Delegation (25th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (18th percentile); House Democrats (22nd percentile); Safe House Seats (19th percentile); All Representatives (21st percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 28th most often compared to House Democrats (tied with 15 others)

4 of Matsui’s bills and resolutions in 2015 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. 196: Online Competition and Consumer Choice …; H.R. 1175: Clean Energy Technology Manufacturing and …; H.R. 2071: Safe Streets Act of 2015; H.R. 2638: Broadband Adoption Act of 2015

Compare to all California Delegation (74th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (69th percentile); House Democrats (78th percentile); Safe House Seats (75th percentile); All Representatives (76th percentile).

 

Got the 42nd fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 1 other)

Matsui’s bills and resolutions had 62 cosponsors in 2015. 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 California Delegation (28th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (24th percentile); House Democrats (26th percentile); Safe House Seats (26th percentile); All Representatives (28th percentile).

 

Ranked 51st most politically left compared to All Representatives

Our 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 2015 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Matsui’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all California Delegation (26th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (17th percentile); House Democrats (26th percentile); Safe House Seats (13th percentile); All Representatives (11th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 73rd most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)

Matsui cosponsored 269 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 California Delegation (60th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (82nd percentile); House Democrats (66th percentile); Safe House Seats (82nd percentile); All Representatives (83rd percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Matsui introduced 0 bills that became law in 2015. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law.

Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

A bill or joint resolution is considered enacted if it or an exactly identical bill to it is enacted as law. We only consider bills that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively.
 

Bills Introduced

Matsui introduced 11 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (51st percentile); Serving 10+ Years (46th percentile); House Democrats (52nd percentile); Safe House Seats (54th percentile); All Representatives (55th percentile).

 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Matsui introduced 0 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 3 of Matsui’s bills and resolutions had a companion bill in the Senate. Working with a sponsor in the other chamber makes a bill more likely to be passed by both the House and Senate.

Those bills were: H.R. 196: Online Competition and Consumer Choice …; H.R. 947: Fire-Damaged Home Rebuilding Act of …; H.R. 4190: Spectrum Challenge Prize Act of …

Compare to all California Delegation (85th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (68th percentile); House Democrats (71st percentile); Safe House Seats (71st percentile); All Representatives (71st percentile).

Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service.
 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

Matsui tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 27% of Matsui’s 11 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015.

Compare to all California Delegation (35th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (43rd percentile); House Democrats (47th percentile); Safe House Seats (36th percentile); All Representatives (34th percentile).

Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.
 

Committee Positions

Matsui 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 Matsui’s Profile »

Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Joining Bipartisan Bills

Of the 269 bills that Matsui cosponsored, 27% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (60th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (69th percentile); House Democrats (41st percentile); Safe House Seats (73rd percentile); All Representatives (72nd percentile).

Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.
 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Matsui supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Matsui 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Matsui cosponsored H.R. 430: DISCLOSE 2015 Act; H.R. 20: Government By the People Act …; H.R. 2173: Redistricting Reform Act of 2015

Compare to all California Delegation (58th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (79th percentile); House Democrats (66th percentile); Safe House Seats (81st percentile); All Representatives (82nd 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 2015) was the 114th Congress (freshmen) or 113th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.