Baird is the representative for Indiana’s 4th congressional district (view map) and is a Republican. He has served since Jan 3, 2019. Baird is next up for reelection in 2022 and serves until Jan 3, 2023.
Misconduct
In Nov. 2021, Rep. Baird was accused of failing to complete security screening to enter House Floor. He was fined by the Sargeant at Arms and has 30 days to appeal the fine.
| Nov. 17, 2021 | Sargeant at Arms fined member for failing to complete security screening to enter House Floor |
![Photo of Rep. James Baird [R-IN4]](/static/legislator-photos/412777-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2020 Report Card for Baird.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Baird 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 Baird has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Nov 26, 2021. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
James Baird sits on the following committees:
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House Committee on Agriculture
- Biotechnology, Horticulture, and Research subcommittee Ranking Member
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House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology
Energy, Research and Technology subcommittees
Enacted Legislation
Baird was the primary sponsor of 1 bill that was enacted:
Does 1 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
Baird sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Armed Forces and National Security (60%) Commerce (40%)
Recent Bills
Some of Baird’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 4033: Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Improvements Act of 2021.
- H.Res. 483: Recognizing the 125th Anniversary of the Indiana Veterans’ Home.
- H.R. 2961: Department of Energy BIO Act
- H.R. 6145 (116th): Industries of the Future Act of 2020
- H.R. 4817 (116th): VA Directly Returning Opioid Prescriptions Act
- H.R. 4770 (116th): CFTC Advisory Committee Improvement Act
- H.Res. 508 (116th): Honoring the 50th anniversary of the return of the Indiana Rangers.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2019 to Nov 2021, Baird missed 10 of 1,340 roll call votes, which is 0.7%. This is better than the median of 2.1% 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 James Baird for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
