Rep. Lamar Smith

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2018 Report Card for Smith.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Smith is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2018 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 Smith sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2013 to Dec 21, 2018. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Smith was the primary sponsor of 42 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:

• H.R. 6227 (115th): National Quantum Initiative Act
• H.R. 589 (115th): Department of Energy Research and Innovation Act
• H.R. 6490 (114th): American Innovation and Competitiveness Act
• H.R. 3033 (114th): Research Excellence and Advancements for Dyslexia Act
• H.R. 1020 (114th): STEM Education Act of 2015
• H.R. 2559 (114th): To designate the “PFC Milton A. Lee Medal of Honor Memorial Highway” in the State of Texas.
• H.R. 2604 (114th): Need-Based Educational Aid Act of 2015

View All »

Does 42 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 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Smith sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:

Science, Technology, Communications (32%) Taxation (12%) Education (12%) Immigration (12%) Commerce (8%) Energy (8%) Law (8%) Environmental Protection (8%)

Recently Introduced Bills

Smith recently introduced the following legislation:

• H.R. 7201 (115th): To amend title 35, United States Code, to include the exclusive economic …
• H.R. 7058 (115th): Digital Goods and Services Tax Fairness Act of 2018
• H.R. 6342 (115th): To make revisions in title 51, United States Code, as necessary to …
• H.R. 6227 (115th): National Quantum Initiative Act
• H.R. 6226 (115th): American Space Situational Awareness and Framework for Entity Management Act
• H.R. 3775 (115th): Immigration in the National Interest Act of 2017
• H.R. 3711 (115th): Legal Workforce Act

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.

Voting Record

Key Votes

Missed Votes

From Jan 1987 to Dec 2018, Smith missed 630 of 19,944 roll call votes, which is 3.2%. This is on par with the median of 2.5% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2018. 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:

• 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
• GPO Member Guide for the photo
• GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills