Richardson was the representative for California’s 37th congressional district and was a Democrat. She served from 2007 to 2012.
![Photo of Rep. Laura Richardson [D-CA37, 2007-2012]](/static/legislator-photos/412253-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Richardson is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2013 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 Richardson sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 4, 2007 to Jan 1, 2013. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Richardson was the primary sponsor of 3 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 6482 (111th): Diesel Emissions Reduction Act of 2010
- H.R. 4957 (111th): Federal Aviation Administration Extension Act of 2010
- H.R. 4131 (110th): To designate a portion of California State Route 91 located in Los Angeles County, California, as the “Juanita Millender-McDonald Highway”.
Does 3 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
Richardson sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Emergency Management (27%) Transportation and Public Works (26%) International Affairs (13%) Education (11%) Taxation (7%) Health (6%) Labor and Employment (6%) Families (4%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Richardson recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 6718 (112th): Early Intervention for Toddlers and Infants with Disabilities Act
- H.R. 6714 (112th): Cainaan Putuga Wendt Shock of Life Act
- H.R. 6711 (112th): Keeping our Communities Safe by Strengthening Safety Standards for Chemical Facilities Act
- H.R. 6708 (112th): To authorize certain appropriations under the Native American Programs Act of 1974.
- H.R. 6707 (112th): Child Care and Resources Education Act of 2012
- H.R. 6715 (112th): To authorize the Secretary of Homeland Security, acting through the Administrator of …
- H.R. 6713 (112th): Ensuring Scanned Containers Arrive in Ports Efficiently Act of 2012
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Sep 2007 to Jan 2013, Richardson missed 175 of 4,289 roll call votes, which is 4.1%. This is worse than the median of 2.6% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Jan 2013. 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
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
