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Rep. Norma Torres’s 2020 Report Card

Representative from California's 35th District
Democrat
Serving Jan 6, 2015 – Jan 3, 2025

These statistics cover Torres’s record during the 116th Congress (Jan 3, 2019-Jan 3, 2021) and compare her to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Jan 30, 2021.

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 Torres’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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Got their bills out of committee the 22nd most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 8 others)

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Torres introduced 10 bills in the 116th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.Res. 144: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 252: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 436: Providing for further consideration of …; H.Res. 509: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 558: Providing for consideration of the …; H.Res. 772: Providing for consideration of the …; H.R. 1937: Indian Community Economic Enhancement Act …; H.R. 2733: Savanna’s Act; H.R. 3329: To designate the facility of …; H.R. 4852: GIVE Act

Compare to all California Delegation (90th percentile); House Democrats (88th percentile); All Representatives (93rd percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 40th fewest bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 1 other)

Torres cosponsored 367 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 (18th percentile); House Democrats (16th percentile); All Representatives (51st percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 90th least often compared to All Representatives

Of the 367 bills that Torres cosponsored, 8% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (45th percentile); House Democrats (38th percentile); All Representatives (21st percentile).

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

Ranked 100th most politically left compared to All Representatives

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 116th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Torres’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all California Delegation (47th percentile); House Democrats (42nd percentile); All Representatives (23rd percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Torres introduced 3 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 116th Congress. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law. View Enacted Bills »

Those bills were: H.R. 1937: Indian Community Economic Enhancement Act …; H.R. 2733: Savanna’s Act; H.R. 3329: To designate the facility of …

Compare to all California Delegation (73rd percentile); House Democrats (76th percentile); All Representatives (84th 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

Torres introduced 30 bills and resolutions in the 116th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (47th percentile); House Democrats (56th percentile); All Representatives (71st percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

5 of Torres’s bills and resolutions in the 116th 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.Res. 627: Expressing support for the designation …; H.Res. 1189: Expressing support for the designation …; H.R. 1134: Prevent Crime and Terrorism Act …; H.R. 1937: Indian Community Economic Enhancement Act …; H.R. 2733: Savanna’s Act

Compare to all California Delegation (41st percentile); House Democrats (42nd percentile); All Representatives (61st percentile).

 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 6 of Torres’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.

Those bills were: H.R. 1937: Indian Community Economic Enhancement Act …; H.R. 1998: Protect DREAMer Confidentiality Act of …; H.R. 3328: Citizenship Affordability Act; H.R. 3692: Strengthening American Communities Act of …; H.R. 4968: BASIC Act; H.R. 5604: Advanced Manufacturing Jobs in America …

Compare to all California Delegation (63rd percentile); House Democrats (62nd percentile); All Representatives (74th 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. 10 of Torres’s 30 bills and resolutions had a cosponsor from a different political party than the party Torres caucused with in the 116th Congress.

Compare to all California Delegation (40th percentile); House Democrats (35th percentile); All Representatives (54th percentile).

Cosponsors who caucused with neither the Democratic nor Republican party do not count toward this statistic.
 

Committee Positions

Torres held a leadership position on 0 committees and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Torres’s Profile »

Compare to all California Delegation (27th percentile); House Democrats (40th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile).

 

Cosponsors

Torres’s bills and resolutions had 449 cosponsors in the 116th 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 (43rd percentile); House Democrats (48th percentile); All Representatives (69th 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 116th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Torres’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all California Delegation (43rd percentile); House Democrats (49th percentile); All Representatives (68th percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Torres missed 1.8% of votes (17 of 954 votes) in the 116th Congress. View Torres’s Profile »

Compare to all California Delegation (45th percentile); All Representatives (42nd 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.

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 116th Congress) was the 116th Congress (freshmen) or 115th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.