Sen. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings

Former Senator for South Carolina

Hollings was a senator from South Carolina and was a Democrat. He served from 1966 to 2004.

OpenSecrets Bioguide

Photo of Sen. Ernest “Fritz” Hollings [D-SC, 1966-2004]

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Hollings is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 2004 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 Hollings sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 1999 to Dec 8, 2004. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Hollings was the primary sponsor of 30 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 30 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 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Hollings sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:

Commerce (18%) Government Operations and Politics (15%) Law (13%) Economics and Public Finance (12%) Science, Technology, Communications (12%) Foreign Trade and International Finance (12%) Transportation and Public Works (10%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (8%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Hollings recently introduced the following legislation:

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Jan 1967 to Dec 2004, Hollings missed 1,309 of 15,466 roll call votes, which is 8.5%. This is much worse than the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Dec 2004. 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.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
1967 Jan-Mar	53	8	15.1%	50^th
1967 Apr-Jun	70	14	20.0%	50^th
1967 Jul-Sep	81	3	3.7%	50^th
1967 Oct-Dec	111	20	18.0%	25^th
1968 Jan-Mar	69	13	18.8%	50^th
1968 Apr-Jun	96	59	61.5%	50^th
1968 Jul-Sep	89	16	18.0%	25^th
1968 Oct-Oct	27	25	92.6%	75^th
1969 Jan-Mar	17	1	5.9%	60^th
1969 Apr-Jun	26	6	23.1%	80^th
1969 Jul-Sep	44	0	0.0%	0^th
1969 Oct-Dec	158	48	30.4%	80^th
1970 Jan-Mar	100	12	12.0%	20^th
1970 Apr-Jun	92	4	4.3%	0^th
1970 Jul-Sep	123	13	10.6%	20^th
1970 Oct-Dec	106	27	25.5%	60^th
1971 Feb-Mar	25	5	20.0%	20^th
1971 Apr-Jun	89	24	27.0%	60^th
1971 Jul-Sep	109	17	15.6%	40^th
1971 Oct-Dec	202	33	16.3%	40^th
1972 Jan-Mar	119	14	11.8%	20^th
1972 Apr-Jun	130	16	12.3%	40^th
1972 Jul-Sep	206	15	7.3%	40^th
1972 Oct-Oct	75	21	28.0%	60^th
1973 Jan-Mar	67	5	7.5%	57^th
1973 Apr-Jun	192	18	9.4%	14^th
1973 Jul-Sep	167	1	0.6%	14^th
1973 Oct-Dec	168	38	22.6%	86^th
1974 Jan-Mar	94	27	28.7%	86^th
1974 Apr-Jun	179	34	19.0%	71^st
1974 Jul-Sep	138	8	5.8%	14^th
1974 Oct-Dec	133	12	9.0%	29^th
1975 Jan-Mar	118	8	6.8%	25^th
1975 Apr-Jun	141	12	8.5%	38^th
1975 Jul-Sep	170	16	9.4%	50^th
1975 Oct-Dec	182	22	12.1%	50^th
1976 Jan-Mar	109	13	11.9%	50^th
1976 Apr-Jun	263	12	4.6%	25^th
1976 Jul-Sep	315	14	4.4%	12^th
1976 Oct-Oct	13	6	46.2%	38^th
1977 Jan-Mar	92	14	15.2%	55^th
1977 Apr-Jun	178	5	2.8%	27^th
1977 Jul-Sep	233	19	8.2%	91^st
1977 Oct-Dec	133	0	0.0%	0^th
1978 Jan-Mar	78	6	7.7%	45^th
1978 Apr-Jun	119	9	7.6%	64^th
1978 Jul-Sep	237	18	7.6%	45^th
1978 Oct-Oct	86	2	2.3%	18^th
1979 Feb-Mar	32	7	21.9%	87^th
1979 Apr-Jun	121	5	4.1%	40^th
1979 Jul-Sep	171	7	4.1%	33^rd
1979 Oct-Dec	184	19	10.3%	67^th
1980 Jan-Mar	67	5	7.5%	53^rd
1980 Apr-Jun	216	21	9.7%	47^th
1980 Jul-Sep	179	13	7.3%	47^th
1980 Oct-Dec	84	23	27.4%	80^th
1981 Jan-Mar	57	2	3.5%	68^th
1981 Apr-Jun	125	4	3.2%	63^rd
1981 Jul-Sep	122	10	8.2%	74^th
1981 Oct-Dec	193	11	5.7%	42^nd
1982 Feb-Mar	79	1	1.3%	37^th
1982 Apr-Jun	127	19	15.0%	95^th
1982 Jul-Sep	177	7	4.0%	63^rd
1982 Oct-Dec	86	10	11.6%	79^th
1983 Feb-Mar	54	25	46.3%	95^th
1983 Apr-Jun	122	47	38.5%	95^th
1983 Jul-Sep	92	45	48.9%	95^th
1983 Oct-Nov	103	70	68.0%	95^th
1984 Jan-Mar	45	26	57.8%	95^th
1984 Apr-Jun	144	20	13.9%	86^th
1984 Jul-Sep	68	8	11.8%	76^th
1984 Oct-Oct	34	3	8.8%	71^st
1985 Jan-Mar	22	0	0.0%	0^th
1985 Apr-Jun	116	0	0.0%	0^th
1985 Jul-Sep	60	0	0.0%	0^th
1985 Oct-Dec	183	0	0.0%	0^th
1986 Jan-Mar	51	0	0.0%	0^th
1986 Apr-Jun	103	0	0.0%	0^th
1986 Jul-Sep	149	0	0.0%	0^th
1986 Oct-Oct	56	0	0.0%	0^th
1987 Jan-Mar	50	0	0.0%	0^th
1987 Apr-Jun	123	0	0.0%	0^th
1987 Jul-Sep	120	2	1.7%	26^th
1987 Oct-Dec	127	0	0.0%	0^th
1988 Jan-Mar	84	11	13.1%	82^nd
1988 Apr-Jun	137	5	3.6%	56^th
1988 Jul-Sep	127	0	0.0%	0^th
1988 Oct-Oct	31	0	0.0%	0^th
1989 Jan-Mar	26	0	0.0%	0^th
1989 Apr-Jun	77	0	0.0%	0^th
1989 Jul-Sep	118	0	0.0%	0^th
1989 Oct-Nov	91	0	0.0%	0^th
1990 Jan-Mar	48	0	0.0%	0^th
1990 Apr-Jun	95	0	0.0%	0^th
1990 Jul-Sep	114	0	0.0%	0^th
1990 Oct-Oct	69	0	0.0%	0^th
1991 Jan-Mar	41	0	0.0%	0^th
1991 Apr-Jun	74	0	0.0%	0^th
1991 Jul-Sep	96	0	0.0%	0^th
1991 Oct-Nov	69	0	0.0%	0^th
1992 Jan-Mar	61	0	0.0%	0^th
1992 Apr-Jun	74	0	0.0%	0^th
1992 Jul-Sep	117	0	0.0%	0^th
1992 Oct-Oct	18	0	0.0%	0^th
1993 Feb-Mar	93	0	0.0%	0^th
1993 Apr-Jun	99	9	9.1%	92^nd
1993 Jul-Sep	109	5	4.6%	90^th
1993 Oct-Nov	94	1	1.1%	44^th
1994 Jan-Mar	86	7	8.1%	82^nd
1994 Apr-Jun	92	1	1.1%	36^th
1994 Jul-Sep	136	0	0.0%	0^th
1994 Oct-Dec	15	2	13.3%	84^th
1995 Jan-Mar	125	5	4.0%	75^th
1995 Apr-Jun	171	1	0.6%	23^rd
1995 Jul-Sep	184	4	2.2%	70^th
1995 Oct-Dec	133	0	0.0%	0^th
1996 Jan-Mar	60	6	10.0%	88^th
1996 Apr-Jun	122	0	0.0%	0^th
1996 Jul-Sep	121	0	0.0%	0^th
1996 Oct-Oct	3	0	0.0%	0^th
1997 Jan-Mar	35	0	0.0%	0^th
1997 Apr-Jun	125	8	6.4%	91^st
1997 Jul-Sep	103	1	1.0%	57^th
1997 Oct-Nov	35	0	0.0%	0^th
1998 Jan-Mar	52	0	0.0%	0^th
1998 Apr-Jun	131	1	0.8%	54^th
1998 Jul-Sep	109	19	17.4%	99^th
1998 Oct-Oct	22	14	63.6%	99^th
1999 Jan-Mar	81	0	0.0%	0^th
1999 Apr-Jun	111	4	3.6%	80^th
1999 Jul-Sep	112	0	0.0%	0^th
1999 Oct-Nov	70	6	8.6%	89^th
2000 Feb-Mar	51	0	0.0%	0^th
2000 Apr-Jun	120	1	0.8%	46^th
2000 Jul-Sep	89	2	2.2%	69^th
2000 Oct-Dec	38	2	5.3%	57^th
2001 Jan-Mar	63	0	0.0%	0^th
2001 Apr-Jun	157	0	0.0%	0^th
2001 Jul-Sep	68	0	0.0%	0^th
2001 Oct-Dec	92	1	1.1%	47^th
2002 Jan-Mar	59	0	0.0%	0^th
2002 Apr-Jun	107	0	0.0%	0^th
2002 Jul-Sep	61	0	0.0%	0^th
2002 Oct-Nov	26	0	0.0%	0^th
2003 Jan-Mar	112	7	6.2%	87^th
2003 Apr-Jun	150	4	2.7%	73^rd
2003 Jul-Sep	108	5	4.6%	83^rd
2003 Oct-Nov	89	15	16.9%	95^th
2004 Jan-Mar	64	2	3.1%	74^th
2004 Apr-Jun	88	4	4.5%	80^th
2004 Jul-Sep	42	0	0.0%	0^th
2004 Oct-Dec	22	13	59.1%	97^th

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
Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills