Bentley was the representative for Maryland’s 2nd congressional district and was a Republican. She served from 1985 to 1994.
![Photo of Rep. Helen Bentley [R-MD2, 1985-1994]](/static/legislator-photos/401383-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Bentley is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 1994 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 Bentley sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 1989 to Nov 29, 1994. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Bentley was the primary sponsor of 3 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 3598 (102nd): Intermodal Safe Container Transportation Act of 1992
- H.J.Res. 238 (101st): Designating the week of September 24, 1989, as “Religious Freedom Week”.
- H.J.Res. 518 (100th): A joint resolution designating the week of September 25, 1988 as “Religious Freedom Week”.
Does 3 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
Bentley sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Transportation and Public Works (23%) Foreign Trade and International Finance (17%) International Affairs (14%) Government Operations and Politics (14%) Private Legislation (9%) Armed Forces and National Security (9%) Environmental Protection (8%) Science, Technology, Communications (5%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Bentley recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 4387 (103rd): To require that an application for a writ of habeas corpus be …
- H.R. 4295 (103rd): To authorize the Secretary of Transportation to issue certificates of documentation for …
- H.R. 3284 (103rd): Entitled the “Asylum Abuse Prevention Act of 1993”.
- H.Con.Res. 150 (103rd): Expressing the sense of the Congress that the President, with the advice …
- H.Con.Res. 112 (103rd): To express the sense of Congress in support of consumer labeling utilizing …
- H.R. 2047 (103rd): To clear certain impediments to the licensing of a vessel for employment …
- H.R. 1702 (103rd): Government Procurement Act of 1993
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1985 to Nov 1994, Bentley missed 296 of 4,787 roll call votes, which is 6.2%. This is worse than the median of 3.4% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Nov 1994. 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.
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
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
