Berman was the representative for California’s 28th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 2003 to 2012.
He was previously the representative for California’s 26th congressional district as a Democrat from 1983 to 2002.
![Photo of Rep. Howard Berman [D-CA28, 2003-2012]](/static/legislator-photos/400025-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Berman 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 ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Berman sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 4, 2007 to Jan 1, 2013. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Berman was the primary sponsor of 24 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 3992 (112th): To allow otherwise eligible Israeli nationals to receive E-2 nonimmigrant visas if similarly situated United States nationals are eligible for similar nonimmigrant status in Israel.
- H.R. 2194 (111th): Comprehensive Iran Sanctions, Accountability, and Divestment Act of 2010
- H.R. 5139 (111th): Extending Immunities to the Office of the High Representative and the International Civilian Office in Kosovo Act of 2010
- H.R. 3642 (111th): Enhanced Partnership with Pakistan Act of 2009
- H.R. 7311 (110th): William Wilberforce Trafficking Victims Protection Reauthorization Act of 2008
- H.R. 6531 (110th): Vessel Hull Design Protection Amendments of 2008
- H.R. 7177 (110th): Naval Vessel Transfer Act of 2008
Does 24 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
Berman sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
International Affairs (41%) Foreign Trade and International Finance (11%) Government Operations and Politics (10%) Immigration (9%) Law (8%) Armed Forces and National Security (8%) Crime and Law Enforcement (7%) Science, Technology, Communications (6%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Berman recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 6644 (112th): Global Partnerships Act of 2012
- H.Res. 714 (112th): Expressing support to end commercial whaling in all of its forms and …
- H.Res. 636 (112th): Expressing support for designation of the period beginning April 9, 2012, and …
- H.R. 4823 (112th): To suspend temporarily the duty on spun-bonded, non-woven, high-density polyethylene materials.
- H.R. 4824 (112th): To suspend temporarily the duty on non-woven recycled polyethylene terephthalate.
- H.R. 4822 (112th): To extend the temporary suspension of duty on certain shopping bags.
- H.R. 4229 (112th): Iron Dome Support Act
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1983 to Jan 2013, Berman missed 1,432 of 18,002 roll call votes, which is 8.0%. 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, 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
- Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
