Stark was the representative for California’s 13th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1993 to 2012.
He was previously the representative for California’s 9th congressional district as a Democrat from 1975 to 1992; and the representative for California’s 8th congressional district as a Democrat from 1973 to 1974.
Alleged misconduct & resolution
In 2009 Stark was investigated for claiming tax credits for a residence which was not his primary residence. The House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct dismissed the charges as Representative Stark neither sought credits improperly nor did he receive them. In 2012, Representative Stark announced his retirement from Congress.
| Nov. 12, 2009 | House Office of Congressional Ethics recommended that the Committee on Standards of Official Conduct further review the allegations |
| Jan. 28, 2010 | House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct dismissed the charges as Representative Stark neither sought credits improperly nor did he receive them |
| 2012 | Stark announced his retirement from Congress. |
![Photo of Rep. Fortney “Pete” Stark [D-CA13, 1993-2012]](/static/legislator-photos/400387-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Stark 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 liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Stark sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 4, 2007 to Jan 1, 2013. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Stark was the primary sponsor of 15 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 7198 (110th): Stephanie Tubbs Jones Gift of Life Medal Act of 2008
- H.R. 6950 (110th): Stephanie Tubbs Jones Gift of Life Medal Act of 2008
- H.R. 6252 (110th): Medicare DMEPOS Competitive Acquisition Reform Act of 2008
- H.R. 5252 (103rd): Social Security Act Amendments of 1994
- H.R. 2902 (103rd): Federal Payment Reauthorization Act of 1994
- H.R. 4039 (100th): A bill to disclaim any right, title, or interest of the United States in certain lands in the State of California which form a part of the ...
- H.R. 2470 (100th): Medicare Catastrophic Coverage Act of 1988
Does 15 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
Stark sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Health (30%) Taxation (23%) Families (16%) Social Welfare (9%) Immigration (7%) Government Operations and Politics (7%) Economics and Public Finance (5%) Labor and Employment (5%)
Recent Bills
Some of Stark’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 6549 (112th): Computers in Our Communities Act
- H.R. 6435 (112th): Medicare Secondary Payer and Late Enrollment Penalty Family Fairness Act of 2012
- H.R. 4379 (112th): Women’s Option to Raise Kids Act
- H.R. 4254 (112th): Medicare Advantage Program Integrity Act of 2012
- H.R. 3881 (112th): Ensuring Mental Competence in Immigration Proceedings Act
- H.R. 3840 (112th): Narrowing Exceptions for Withholding Taxes Act of 2012
- H.R. 3333 (112th): Foster Children Opportunity Act
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1973 to Jan 2013, Stark missed 2,782 of 23,975 roll call votes, which is 11.6%. This is much worse than the median of 2.6% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Jan 2013. 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
- Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
