Sablan is the representative from the Northern Mariana Islands and is a Democrat (2017-), previously an Independent (2009-2009), a Democrat (2009-2014), and an Independent caucusing with the Democrats (2015-2016). He has served since Jan 6, 2009. Sablan is next up for reelection in 2020 and serves until Jan 3, 2021 unless re-elected.
Because the Northern Mariana Islands is a territory of the United States, and not a state, its representative in the House of Representatives is a delegate with limited voting privileges — Sablan can currently vote in committee and in certain votes on the House floor, but not if their vote would be decisive. Delegates have a marginalized role in Congress and their constituents are not represented in Congress in the same manner as most citizens.
![Photo of Rep. Gregorio Sablan [D-MP0]](/static/legislator-photos/412312-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2019 Report Card for Sablan.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Sablan is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives 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 Sablan has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Sep 18, 2020. See full analysis methodology.
Committee Membership
Gregorio Sablan sits on the following committees:
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House Committee on Education and Labor
- Early Childhood, Elementary, and Secondary Education subcommittee Chair
Higher Education and Workforce Investment subcommittees -
House Committee on Natural Resources
Water, Oceans, and Wildlife subcommittees
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House Committee on Veterans' Affairs
Disability Assistance and Memorial Affairs, Health subcommittees
Enacted Legislation
Sablan was the primary sponsor of 6 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 560: Northern Mariana Islands Residents Relief Act
- H.R. 559: Northern Mariana Islands Long-Term Legal Residents Relief Act
- H.R. 4869 (115th): Northern Mariana Islands U.S. Workforce Act
- H.R. 339 (115th): Northern Mariana Islands Economic Expansion Act
- H.R. 5889 (114th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 1 Chalan Kanoa VLG in Saipan, Northern Mariana Islands, as the “Segundo T. Sablan and ...
- H.R. 573 (113th): To amend Public Law 93-435 with respect to the Northern Mariana Islands, providing parity with Guam, the Virgin Islands, and American Samoa.
Does 6 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
Sablan sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Immigration (25%) Armed Forces and National Security (22%) Education (12%) Government Operations and Politics (9%) Agriculture and Food (9%) Health (9%) International Affairs (6%) Labor and Employment (6%)
Recent Bills
Some of Sablan’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 8116: Insular Area Liquidity Act
- H.R. 8055: STEM Educator Awards Equity Act
- H.R. 7112: Military Spouse Career Education Act
- H.R. 6786: To amend title 10, United States Code, to include the Commonwealth of the ...
- H.R. 6658: Insular Area Medicaid Coronavirus Recovery Act
- H.R. 6495: Insular Area Medicaid Parity Act
- H.R. 6262: Disabled Veterans Education Relief Act
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 2009 to Mar 2020, Sablan missed 111 of 637 roll call votes, which is 17.4%. This is much worse than the median of 2.2% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. 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
- Office of Gregorio Sablan for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
