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Rep. Mark DeSaulnier’s 2016 Report Card

Representative from California's 11th District
Democrat
Served Jan 6, 2015 – Jan 3, 2023

These statistics cover DeSaulnier’s record during the 114th Congress (Jan 6, 2015-Jan 3, 2017) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Aug 24, 2017. The statistics were updated on Jan 20, 2017 and Aug 24, 2017 to improve how we counted enacted laws. Originally published on Jan 7, 2017.

A higher or lower number below doesn’t necessarily make this legislator any better or worse, or more or less effective, than other Members of Congress. We present these statistics for you to understand the quantitative aspects of DeSaulnier’s legislative career and make your own judgements based on what activities you think are important.

Keep in mind that there are many important aspects of being a legislator besides what can be measured, such as constituent services and performing oversight of the executive branch, which aren’t reflected here.

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Cosponsored the 2nd most bills compared to House Freshmen

DeSaulnier cosponsored 519 bills and resolutions introduced by other Members of Congress. Cosponsorship shows a willingness to work with others to advance policy goals. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (77th percentile); House Freshmen (97th percentile); House Democrats (84th percentile); All Representatives (93rd percentile).

 

Ranked 2nd most politically left compared to House Freshmen

Our unique ideology analysis assigns a score to Members of Congress according to their legislative behavior by how similar the pattern of bills and resolutions they cosponsor are to other Members of Congress.

For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in the 114th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from DeSaulnier’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all California Delegation (8th percentile); House Freshmen (2nd percentile); House Democrats (9th percentile); All Representatives (4th percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 8th least often compared to California Delegation (tied with 2 others)

1 of DeSaulnier’s bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress had a cosponsor who was a chair or ranking member of a committee that the bill was referred to. Getting support from committee leaders on relevant committees is a crucial step in moving legislation forward.

Those bills were: H.R. 2824: Offshore Oil and Gas Worker …

Compare to all California Delegation (13th percentile); House Freshmen (21st percentile); House Democrats (14th percentile); All Representatives (14th percentile).

 

Was 10th most present in votes compared to California Delegation (tied with 1 other)

DeSaulnier missed 1.1% of votes (14 of 1,325 votes) in the 114th Congress. View DeSaulnier’s Profile »

Compare to all California Delegation (17th percentile); House Freshmen (34th percentile); All Representatives (22nd percentile).

The Speaker of the House, per current House rules, is not required to vote in “ordinary legislative proceedings” and is never recorded as missing a vote, and may not be included in the comparison with other representatives if not voting. The delegates from the five island territories and the District of Columbia are not eligible to vote in most roll call votes and so may not appear here if not elligible for any vote during the time period of these statistics.
 

Supported government transparency the 10th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 8 others)

GovTrack looked at whether DeSaulnier supported any of 40 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave DeSaulnier 8 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

DeSaulnier cosponsored H.R. 430: DISCLOSE 2015 Act; H.R. 20: Government By the People Act …; H.R. 653: FOIA Act; H.R. 2143: EMPOWER Act; H.R. 2173: Redistricting Reform Act of 2015; H.R. 5051: OPEN Government Data Act; H.R. 5386: Presidential Tax Transparency Act; H.R. 6340: Presidential Accountability Act

Compare to all California Delegation (94th percentile); House Freshmen (95th percentile); House Democrats (92nd percentile); All Representatives (96th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 37th least often compared to House Democrats

Of the 519 bills that DeSaulnier cosponsored, 23% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (37th percentile); House Freshmen (66th percentile); House Democrats (19th percentile); All Representatives (58th percentile).

Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic.
 

Laws Enacted

DeSaulnier introduced 0 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 114th Congress. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law.

Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

The legislator must be the primary sponsor of the bill or joint resolution that was enacted or the primary sponsor of a bill or joint resolution for which at least about one third of its text was incorporated into another bill or joint resolution that was enacted as law, as determined by an automated analysis. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. We also exclude bills where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill.
 

Bills Introduced

DeSaulnier introduced 16 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (44th percentile); House Freshmen (73rd percentile); House Democrats (44th percentile); All Representatives (50th percentile).

 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. DeSaulnier introduced 1 bill in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 1289: John Muir National Historic Site …

Compare to all California Delegation (33rd percentile); House Freshmen (15th percentile); House Democrats (43rd percentile); All Representatives (26th percentile).

 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 0 of DeSaulnier’s bills and resolutions had a companion bill in the Senate. Working with a sponsor in the other chamber makes a bill more likely to be passed by both the House and Senate.

Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service.
 

Writing Bipartisan Bills

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 4 of DeSaulnier’s 16 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress.

Compare to all California Delegation (37th percentile); House Freshmen (44th percentile); House Democrats (35th percentile); All Representatives (33rd percentile).

 

Committee Positions

DeSaulnier held a leadership position on 0 committees and 0 subcommittees, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View DeSaulnier’s Profile »

Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Cosponsors

DeSaulnier’s bills and resolutions had 177 cosponsors in the 114th Congress. Securing cosponsors is an important part of getting support for a bill, although having more cosponsors does not always mean a bill will get a vote. View Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (46th percentile); House Freshmen (67th percentile); House Democrats (39th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile).

 

Leadership Score

Our unique leadership analysis looks at who is cosponsoring whose bills. A higher score shows a greater ability to get cosponsors on bills.

For more, see our methodology. Note that because on this page only legislative activity in the 114th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from DeSaulnier’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all California Delegation (38th percentile); House Freshmen (42nd percentile); House Democrats (34th percentile); All Representatives (27th percentile).

Additional Notes

Leadership/Ideology: The leadership and ideology scores are not displayed for Members of Congress who introduced fewer than 10 bills, or, for ideology, for Members of Congress that have a low leadership score, as there is usually not enough data in these cases to compute reliable leadership and ideology statistics.

Missing Bills: We exclude bills from some statistics where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill because the bill’s text was replaced in whole with unrelated provisions (i.e. it became a vehicle for passage of unrelated provisions).

Ranking Members (RkMembs): The chair of a committee is always selected from the political party that holds the most seats in the chamber, called the “majority party”. The “ranking member” (sometimes “RkMembs”) is the title given to the senior-most member of the committee not in the majority party.

Freshmen/Sophomores: Freshmen and sophomores are Members of Congress whose first term (in the same chamber at the end of the 114th Congress) was the 114th Congress (freshmen) or 113th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.