Zimmer was the representative for New Jersey’s 12th congressional district and was a Republican. He served from 1991 to 1996.
![Photo of Rep. Richard Zimmer [R-NJ12, 1991-1996]](/static/legislator-photos/412001-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Zimmer is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 1996 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 Zimmer sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 1991 to Oct 3, 1996. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Zimmer was the primary sponsor of 3 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 3456 (104th): Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act of 1996
- H.R. 2137 (104th): Megan’s Law
- H.R. 2035 (102nd): To authorize the addition of 15 acres to Morristown National Historical Park.
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
Zimmer sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (20%) Economics and Public Finance (15%) Environmental Protection (14%) Taxation (14%) Crime and Law Enforcement (11%) Law (9%) Agriculture and Food (9%) Science, Technology, Communications (8%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Zimmer recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 3974 (104th): To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to prohibit the provision …
- H.R. 3781 (104th): To require the National Telecommunications and Information Administration to update its report …
- H.R. 3456 (104th): Pam Lychner Sexual Offender Tracking and Identification Act of 1996
- H.R. 3319 (104th): To require that the United States promptly sue for recovery of costs …
- H.R. 3257 (104th): To develop model curricula appropriate for elementary and secondary students.
- H.Res. 361 (104th): Amending the Rules of the House of Representatives to prohibit foreign travel …
- H.R. 2960 (104th): To amend the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide that amounts …
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1991 to Sep 1996, Zimmer missed 53 of 3,394 roll call votes, which is 1.6%. This is better than the median of 2.7% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Sep 1996. 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
