George Brown Jr., former Representative for California's 42nd Congressional District

Brown was the representative for California’s 42^nd congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1993 to 1999.

He was previously the representative for California’s 36^th congressional district as a Democrat from 1975 to 1992; the representative for California’s 38^th congressional district as a Democrat from 1973 to 1974; and the representative for California’s 29^th congressional district as a Democrat from 1963 to 1970.

Photo of Rep. George Brown [D-CA42, 1993-1999]

Analysis

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Brown is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2000 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 Brown sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 4, 1995 to Dec 15, 2000. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Brown was the primary sponsor of 21 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

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Does 21 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

Brown sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:

Government Operations and Politics (19%) Science, Technology, Communications (16%) Economics and Public Finance (15%) Labor and Employment (12%) Commerce (11%) Education (10%) Finance and Financial Sector (9%) Law (9%)

Recent Bills

Some of Brown’s most recently sponsored bills include...

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Missed Votes

From Jan 1963 to Jul 1999, Brown missed 2,345 of 16,051 roll call votes, which is 14.6%. This is much worse than the median of 3.0% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Jul 1999. 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.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
1963 Jan-Mar	9	0	0.0%	0^th
1963 Apr-Jun	31	0	0.0%	0^th
1963 Jul-Sep	28	1	3.6%	50^th
1963 Oct-Dec	50	5	10.0%	50^th
1964 Jan-Mar	26	0	0.0%	0^th
1964 Apr-Jun	34	0	0.0%	0^th
1964 Jul-Sep	49	3	6.1%	0^th
1964 Oct-Oct	4	0	0.0%	0^th
1965 Jan-Mar	28	7	25.0%	75^th
1965 Apr-Jun	53	12	22.6%	50^th
1965 Jul-Sep	98	13	13.3%	50^th
1965 Oct-Oct	22	0	0.0%	0^th
1966 Jan-Mar	30	6	20.0%	50^th
1966 Apr-Jun	51	13	25.5%	50^th
1966 Jul-Sep	72	30	41.7%	50^th
1966 Oct-Oct	40	33	82.5%	75^th
1967 Jan-Mar	31	1	3.2%	60^th
1967 Apr-Jun	57	4	7.0%	60^th
1967 Jul-Sep	59	4	6.8%	60^th
1967 Oct-Dec	98	6	6.1%	60^th
1968 Jan-Mar	38	2	5.3%	60^th
1968 Apr-Jun	79	13	16.5%	80^th
1968 Jul-Sep	91	20	22.0%	80^th
1968 Oct-Oct	25	7	28.0%	80^th
1969 Jan-Mar	16	2	12.5%	50^th
1969 Apr-Jun	28	10	35.7%	71^st
1969 Jul-Sep	45	11	24.4%	86^th
1969 Oct-Dec	88	43	48.9%	88^th
1970 Jan-Mar	35	26	74.3%	88^th
1970 Apr-Jun	74	51	68.9%	88^th
1970 Jul-Sep	76	13	17.1%	50^th
1970 Oct-Dec	81	26	32.1%	62^nd
1973 Jan-Mar	36	9	25.0%	77^th
1973 Apr-Jun	191	21	11.0%	68^th
1973 Jul-Sep	131	2	1.5%	32^nd
1973 Oct-Dec	182	23	12.6%	64^th
1974 Jan-Mar	79	11	13.9%	73^rd
1974 Apr-Jun	170	37	21.8%	86^th
1974 Jul-Sep	148	8	5.4%	45^th
1974 Oct-Dec	141	32	22.7%	91^st
1975 Jan-Mar	68	1	1.5%	12^th
1975 Apr-Jun	199	21	10.6%	73^rd
1975 Jul-Sep	154	27	17.5%	88^th
1975 Oct-Dec	191	22	11.5%	82^nd
1976 Jan-Mar	106	17	16.0%	88^th
1976 Apr-Jun	267	60	22.5%	82^nd
1976 Jul-Sep	281	43	15.3%	79^th
1976 Oct-Oct	7	0	0.0%	0^th
1977 Jan-Mar	100	22	22.0%	91^st
1977 Apr-Jun	273	50	18.3%	93^rd
1977 Jul-Sep	198	29	14.6%	84^th
1977 Oct-Dec	135	14	10.4%	67^th
1978 Jan-Mar	150	30	20.0%	87^th
1978 Apr-Jun	300	69	23.0%	82^nd
1978 Jul-Sep	308	50	16.2%	78^th
1978 Oct-Oct	76	6	7.9%	53^rd
1979 Jan-Mar	63	6	9.5%	76^th
1979 Apr-Jun	221	34	15.4%	80^th
1979 Jul-Sep	198	19	9.6%	69^th
1979 Oct-Dec	190	44	23.2%	90^th
1980 Jan-Mar	148	18	12.2%	70^th
1980 Apr-Jun	197	41	20.8%	89^th
1980 Jul-Sep	192	21	10.9%	67^th
1980 Oct-Dec	67	8	11.9%	57^th
1981 Jan-Mar	15	3	20.0%	81^st
1981 Apr-Jun	90	5	5.6%	50^th
1981 Jul-Sep	106	11	10.4%	82^nd
1981 Oct-Dec	142	28	19.7%	93^rd
1982 Feb-Mar	48	10	20.8%	86^th
1982 Apr-Jun	119	18	15.1%	88^th
1982 Jul-Sep	193	36	18.7%	90^th
1982 Oct-Dec	99	6	6.1%	43^rd
1983 Jan-Mar	43	3	7.0%	46^th
1983 Apr-Jun	182	24	13.2%	82^nd
1983 Jul-Sep	130	6	4.6%	60^th
1983 Oct-Nov	143	25	17.5%	91^st
1984 Jan-Mar	53	1	1.9%	23^rd
1984 Apr-Jun	223	16	7.2%	56^th
1984 Jul-Sep	96	1	1.0%	17^th
1984 Oct-Oct	36	5	13.9%	77^th
1985 Jan-Mar	36	4	11.1%	65^th
1985 Apr-Jun	154	16	10.4%	85^th
1985 Jul-Sep	101	6	5.9%	60^th
1985 Oct-Dec	148	20	13.5%	95^th
1986 Jan-Mar	61	23	37.7%	98^th
1986 Apr-Jun	128	10	7.8%	84^th
1986 Jul-Sep	202	28	13.9%	90^th
1986 Oct-Oct	60	8	13.3%	84^th
1987 Jan-Mar	39	9	23.1%	92^nd
1987 Apr-Jun	187	28	15.0%	91^st
1987 Jul-Sep	95	23	24.2%	97^th
1987 Oct-Dec	167	34	20.4%	95^th
1988 Feb-Mar	49	10	20.4%	94^th
1988 Apr-Jun	161	17	10.6%	86^th
1988 Jul-Sep	152	41	27.0%	95^th
1988 Oct-Oct	89	0	0.0%	0^th
1989 Jan-Mar	14	1	7.1%	57^th
1989 Apr-Jun	105	7	6.7%	80^th
1989 Jul-Sep	128	8	6.2%	83^rd
1989 Oct-Nov	121	17	14.0%	96^th
1990 Jan-Mar	60	14	23.3%	97^th
1990 Apr-Jun	150	19	12.7%	91^st
1990 Jul-Sep	183	13	7.1%	82^nd
1990 Oct-Oct	143	25	17.5%	98^th
1991 Jan-Mar	62	3	4.8%	65^th
1991 Apr-Jun	139	7	5.0%	68^th
1991 Jul-Sep	81	4	4.9%	61^st
1991 Oct-Nov	162	22	13.6%	96^th
1992 Jan-Mar	66	4	6.1%	65^th
1992 Apr-Jun	185	13	7.0%	80^th
1992 Jul-Sep	196	16	8.2%	85^th
1992 Oct-Oct	41	0	0.0%	0^th
1993 Jan-Mar	127	14	11.0%	95^th
1993 Apr-Jun	190	33	17.4%	98^th
1993 Jul-Sep	164	18	11.0%	97^th
1993 Oct-Nov	134	24	17.9%	99^th
1994 Jan-Mar	95	24	25.3%	99^th
1994 Apr-Jun	219	26	11.9%	96^th
1994 Jul-Sep	142	10	7.0%	82^nd
1994 Oct-Nov	51	7	13.7%	93^rd
1995 Jan-Mar	279	34	12.2%	98^th
1995 Apr-Jun	189	12	6.3%	88^th
1995 Jul-Sep	232	29	12.5%	95^th
1995 Oct-Dec	185	3	1.6%	45^th
1996 Jan-Mar	110	2	1.8%	48^th
1996 Apr-Jun	182	10	5.5%	81^st
1996 Jul-Sep	163	6	3.7%	69^th
1997 Jan-Mar	71	5	7.0%	83^rd
1997 Apr-Jun	174	11	6.3%	87^th
1997 Jul-Sep	232	12	5.2%	82^nd
1997 Oct-Nov	163	17	10.4%	93^rd
1998 Jan-Mar	89	4	4.5%	71^st
1998 Apr-Jun	185	11	5.9%	83^rd
1998 Jul-Sep	199	6	3.0%	64^th
1998 Oct-Dec	74	1	1.4%	41^st
1999 Jan-Mar	77	8	10.4%	94^th
1999 Apr-Jun	184	168	91.3%	100^th
1999 Jul-Sep	45	45	100.0%	100^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

Rep. George Brown Jr.

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