Rep. Ron Kind’s 2015 Report Card

Representative
from Wisconsin's 3rd District
Democrat
Served Jan 7, 1997 – Jan 3, 2023
These year-end statistics cover Kind’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 Kind’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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Joined bipartisan bills the 3rd most often compared to All RepresentativesIn this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 254 bills that Kind cosponsored, 60% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills » Compare to all Wisconsin Delegation (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (99th percentile); House Democrats (98th percentile); Safe House Seats (100th percentile); All Representatives (99th percentile). Only Democratic and Republican Members of Congress who cosponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Ranked 4th most politically right compared to House DemocratsOur 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 2015 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Kind’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Wisconsin Delegation (25th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); House Democrats (98th percentile); Safe House Seats (46th percentile); All Representatives (43rd percentile). |
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Supported government transparency the 9th most often compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 3 others)GovTrack looked at whether Kind supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Kind 4 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills. Kind sponsored H.R. 4286: Campaign Transparency Act Kind cosponsored H.R. 20: Government By the People Act … Compare to all Wisconsin Delegation (88th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (93rd percentile); House Democrats (86th percentile); Safe House Seats (91st percentile); All Representatives (92nd percentile). |
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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 19th highest % of bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 2 others)In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 43% of Kind’s 21 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015. Compare to all Serving 10+ Years (70th percentile); House Democrats (77th percentile); Safe House Seats (65th percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile). Only Members of Congress who sponsored more than 10 bills and resolutions are included in this statistic. |
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Introduced the 44th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 4 others)Kind introduced 21 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills » Compare to all Wisconsin Delegation (63rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (82nd percentile); House Democrats (89th percentile); Safe House Seats (88th percentile); All Representatives (89th percentile). |
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Cosponsored the 85th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 2 others)Kind cosponsored 254 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 Wisconsin Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (79th percentile); House Democrats (61st percentile); Safe House Seats (79th percentile); All Representatives (80th percentile). |
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Laws EnactedKind 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 Wisconsin Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (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. |
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Bills Out of CommitteeMost bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Kind introduced 0 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration. Compare to all Wisconsin Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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Powerful Cosponsors3 of Kind’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. 1404: Social Security and Marriage Equality …; H.R. 1903: To amend the Tariff Act …; H.R. 2970: Rebuilding American Manufacturing Act of … Compare to all Wisconsin Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (54th percentile); House Democrats (57th percentile); Safe House Seats (61st percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile). |
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Working with the SenateThe House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing Those bills were: H.R. 1404: Social Security and Marriage Equality …; H.R. 2013: FIT Kids Act; H.R. 3639: Veterans Access to Care Act Compare to all Wisconsin Delegation (50th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (68th percentile); House Democrats (71st percentile); Safe House Seats (71st percentile); All Representatives (71st percentile). Companion bills are those that are identified as “identical” by Congress’s Congressional Research Service. |
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Committee PositionsKind 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 Kind’s Profile » Compare to all Wisconsin Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile). |
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CosponsorsKind’s bills and resolutions had 153 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 Wisconsin Delegation (38th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (50th percentile); House Democrats (56th percentile); Safe House Seats (55th percentile); All Representatives (56th percentile). |
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Leadership ScoreOur 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 Kind’s score elsewhere on GovTrack. Compare to all Wisconsin Delegation (38th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (45th percentile); House Democrats (60th percentile); Safe House Seats (48th percentile); All Representatives (49th percentile). |
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Missed VotesKind missed 3.0% of votes (21 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Kind’s Profile » Compare to all Wisconsin Delegation (57th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (61st percentile); Safe House Seats (67th percentile); All Representatives (69th 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 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.