Mink was the representative for Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district and was a Democrat. She served from 1990 to 2002.
She was previously the representative for Hawaii’s 2nd congressional district as a Democrat from 1971 to 1976; and the representative for Hawaii’s 1st congressional district as a Democrat from 1965 to 1970.
![Photo of Rep. Patsy Mink [D-HI2, 1990-2002]](/static/legislator-photos/400554-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Mink is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2002 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 Mink sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 7, 1997 to Nov 19, 2002. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Mink was the primary sponsor of 9 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 1906 (107th): Pu’uhonua O Honaunau National Historical Park Addition Act of 2002
- H.R. 132 (107th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 620 Jacaranda Street in Lanai City, Hawaii, as the “Goro Hokama Post Office Building”.
- H.R. 1772 (104th): To authorize the Secretary of the Interior to acquire certain interests in the Waihee Marsh for inclusion in the Oahu National Wildlife Refuge Complex.
- H.R. 5503 (94th): A bill for the relief of Divina Mamuad.
- H.R. 1758 (94th): A bill for the relief of Terrence Jarome Caguiat.
- H.R. 1757 (94th): A bill for the relief of Plotemia Mabanag Bareng and Bastiana Lilian Mabanag Bareng.
- H.R. 6275 (94th): A bill to make the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands eligible to participate in certain Federal fisheries programs.
Does 9 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
Mink sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (19%) Labor and Employment (14%) Social Welfare (12%) Families (12%) Health (12%) Economics and Public Finance (12%) Armed Forces and National Security (10%) Law (9%)
Recent Bills
Some of Mink’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 5296 (107th): To revive the system of parole for Federal prisoners.
- H.R. 5297 (107th): Health Care Continuation Coverage Act of 2002
- H.R. 5067 (107th): Compact of Free Association Children’s Health Improvement Act of 2002
- H.R. 5066 (107th): To amend title 37, United States Code, to limit the authority of …
- H.R. 5068 (107th): Ovarian and Uterine Cancer Prevention and Treatment Act of 2002
- H.R. 4908 (107th): To require gifts of less than $100 to be disregarded in determining …
- H.R. 4787 (107th): To amend the impact aid program under section 8003 of the Elementary …
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1965 to Sep 2002, Mink missed 667 of 11,191 roll call votes, which is 6.0%. This is much worse than the median of 2.8% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Sep 2002. 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
- 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
- Congressional Pictorial Directory for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
