Salazar was a senator from Colorado and was a Democrat. He served from 2005 to 2009.
![Photo of Sen. Ken Salazar [D-CO, 2005-2009]](/static/legislator-photos/400619-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Salazar is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the Senate in 2010 positioned according to our liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills Salazar sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 24, 2005 to Dec 22, 2010. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Salazar was the primary sponsor of 10 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- S. 183 (111th): Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area and Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area Act
- S. 180 (111th): Cache La Poudre River National Heritage Area Act of 2009
- S. 185 (111th): Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area Act
- S. 186 (111th): South Park National Heritage Area Act
- S. 3376 (110th): United States Olympic Committee Paralympic Program Act of 2008
- S. 188 (110th): A bill to revise the short title of the Fannie Lou Hamer, Rosa Parks, and Coretta Scott King Voting Rights Act Reauthorization and Amendments Act of 2006.
- S. 1116 (110th): More Water, More Energy, and Less Waste Act of 2007
Does 10 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
Salazar sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (21%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (16%) Economics and Public Finance (14%) Environmental Protection (12%) Energy (11%) Transportation and Public Works (9%) Water Resources Development (9%) Armed Forces and National Security (8%)
Recent Bills
Some of Salazar’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- S. 183 (111th): Dominguez-Escalante National Conservation Area and Dominguez Canyon Wilderness Area Act
- S. 191 (111th): A bill to amend the Great Sand Dunes National Park and Preserve ...
- S. 184 (111th): Jackson Gulch Rehabilitation Act of 2009
- S. 180 (111th): Cache La Poudre River National Heritage Area Act of 2009
- S. 185 (111th): Sangre de Cristo National Heritage Area Act
- S. 186 (111th): South Park National Heritage Area Act
- S.Res. 682 (110th): A resolution recognizing Hispanic Heritage Month and celebrating the heritage and culture ...
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2005 to Jan 2009, Salazar missed 12 of 1,307 roll call votes, which is 0.9%. This is better than the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of senators serving in Jan 2009. 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
- Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
