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Rep. John Sarbanes

Representative for Maryland’s 3rd District

pronounced jon // sar-BAYN


Sarbanes is the representative for Maryland’s 3rd congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. He has served since Jan 4, 2007. Sarbanes is next up for reelection in 2024 and serves until Jan 3, 2025. He is 60 years old.

Photo of Rep. John Sarbanes [D-MD3]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2022 Report Card for Sarbanes.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Sarbanes 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 Sarbanes has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2019 to Mar 21, 2023. See full analysis methodology.

Committee Membership

John Sarbanes sits on the following committees:

Enacted Legislation

Sarbanes was the primary sponsor of 5 bills that were enacted:

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Does 5 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

Sarbanes sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:

Government Operations and Politics (56%) Environmental Protection (25%) Health (19%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Sarbanes recently introduced the following legislation:

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Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Sarbanes voted Yea

Sarbanes voted Nay

Passed 395/19 on Mar 20, 2018.

H.R. 4566 amends Title I of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act (Dodd-Frank Act) to exempt nonbank financial institutions not under the …

Sarbanes voted Nay

Passed 378/48 on Apr 26, 2017.

This bill would change the appointment process for the head of the U.S. Copyright Office, known as the Register of Copyrights. Currently the Register of …

Sarbanes voted No

Passed 360/61 on Dec 8, 2016.

The WIIN (Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation) Act was a 277-page bill dealing with federal water policies, particularly for drought-stricken areas. It’s so complex …

Sarbanes voted Nay

Passed 403/12 on May 24, 2016.

The TSCA Modernization Act of 2015 would amend the Toxic Substances Control Act to expand the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency to evaluate and …

Sarbanes voted Nay

Sarbanes voted Yea

Passed 338/88 on May 13, 2015.

The USA Freedom Act (H.R. 2048, Pub.L. 114–23) is a U.S. law enacted on June 2, 2015 that restored in modified form several provisions of …

Sarbanes voted No

Sarbanes voted Aye

Sarbanes voted Nay

Sarbanes voted Nay

Sarbanes voted Aye

Passed 304/117 on Jun 23, 2011.

The Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Barack …

Missed Votes

From Jan 2007 to Mar 2023, Sarbanes missed 138 of 10,973 roll call votes, which is 1.3%. This is on par with the median of 1.5% 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, major life events, and running for higher office.

Show the numbers...

Primary Sources

The information on this page is originally sourced from a variety of materials, including: