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Rep. Paul Cook’s 2015 Report Card

Representative from California's 8th District
Republican
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Dec 7, 2020

These year-end statistics cover Cook’s record during the 2015 legislative year (Jan 6, 2015-Dec 31, 2015) and compare him to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Jan 9, 2016.

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 Cook’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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Ranked the 7th bottom/follower compared to House Sophomores

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 2015 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Cook’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all California Delegation (21st percentile); House Sophomores (8th percentile); House Republicans (12th percentile); Safe House Seats (14th percentile); All Representatives (15th percentile).

 

Was 8th most present in votes compared to House Sophomores (tied with 3 others)

Cook missed 0.4% of votes (3 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Cook’s Profile »

Compare to all California Delegation (11th percentile); House Sophomores (10th percentile); Safe House Seats (13th percentile); All Representatives (14th 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.
 

Got the 10th fewest cosponsors on their bills compared to House Sophomores

Cook’s bills and resolutions had 43 cosponsors in 2015. 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 (21st percentile); House Sophomores (12th percentile); House Republicans (21st percentile); Safe House Seats (18th percentile); All Representatives (20th percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 34th most often compared to House Republicans

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 184 bills that Cook cosponsored, 19% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Republican. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (31st percentile); House Sophomores (40th percentile); House Republicans (86th percentile); Safe House Seats (55th percentile); All Representatives (53rd percentile).

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

Cosponsored the 60th most bills compared to House Republicans

Cook cosponsored 184 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 (43rd percentile); House Sophomores (41st percentile); House Republicans (76th percentile); Safe House Seats (56th percentile); All Representatives (56th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Cook introduced 0 bills that became law in 2015. 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 Sophomores (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

A bill or joint resolution is considered enacted if it or an exactly identical bill to it is enacted as law. We only consider bills that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively.
 

Bills Introduced

Cook introduced 10 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (43rd percentile); House Sophomores (41st percentile); House Republicans (50th percentile); Safe House Seats (46th percentile); All Representatives (48th percentile).

 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Cook introduced 1 bill in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Those bills were: H.R. 1992: American Soda Ash Competitiveness Act

Compare to all California Delegation (57th percentile); House Sophomores (49th percentile); House Republicans (31st percentile); Safe House Seats (45th percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

1 of Cook’s bills and resolutions in 2015 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. 3286: HIRE Vets Act

Compare to all California Delegation (15th percentile); House Sophomores (16th percentile); House Republicans (22nd percentile); Safe House Seats (20th percentile); All Representatives (21st percentile).

 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 1 of Cook’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. 1992: American Soda Ash Competitiveness Act

Compare to all California Delegation (30th percentile); House Sophomores (26th percentile); House Republicans (28th percentile); Safe House Seats (29th percentile); All Representatives (29th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Cook 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 Cook’s Profile »

Compare to all California Delegation (34th percentile); House Sophomores (64th percentile); House Republicans (38th percentile); Safe House Seats (36th percentile); All Representatives (38th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Cook supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Cook 0 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); House Sophomores (0th percentile); House Republicans (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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 2015) 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.