Williams was the representative for Montana’s 1st congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1979 to 1996.
![Photo of Rep. John Patrick Williams [D-MT1, 1979-1996]](/static/legislator-photos/411677-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Williams is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 1996 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 Williams sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 1991 to Oct 3, 1996. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Williams was the primary sponsor of 18 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 4167 (104th): Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996
- H.R. 4114 (104th): Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996
- H.R. 5200 (103rd): Crow Boundary Settlement Act of 1994
- H.R. 873 (103rd): Gallatin Range Consolidation and Protection Act of 1993
- H.R. 2032 (102nd): Nez Perce National Historical Park Additions Act of 1991
- H.R. 2031 (102nd): Rural Telephone Cooperative Associations ERISA Amendments Act of 1991
- H.R. 3155 (102nd): Northern Cheyenne Indian Reserved Water Rights Settlement Act of 1991
Does 18 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
Williams sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (19%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (17%) Environmental Protection (14%) Economics and Public Finance (13%) Labor and Employment (11%) Water Resources Development (10%) Law (8%) Sports and Recreation (7%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Williams recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 4167 (104th): Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996
- H.R. 4188 (104th): Fort Peck Reservation Rural Water System Act of 1995
- H.R. 4114 (104th): Professional Boxing Safety Act of 1996
- H.R. 4076 (104th): Congress 2000 Commission Act
- H.R. 3317 (104th): Yellowstone River Valley Heritage Area Act of 1996
- H.R. 3318 (104th): Southwest Montana Heritage and Recreation Area Act of 1996
- H.R. 2819 (104th): Fort Peck Rural County Water Supply System Act of 1995
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1979 to Sep 1996, Williams missed 1,094 of 9,121 roll call votes, which is 12.0%. This is much worse than the median of 2.7% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Sep 1996. 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
