Dellums was the representative for California’s 9th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1993 to 1998.
He was previously the representative for California’s 8th congressional district as a Democrat from 1975 to 1992; and the representative for California’s 7th congressional district as a Democrat from 1971 to 1974.
Alleged misconduct & resolution
In 1983, the House Committee on Standards of Official Conduct investigated Dellums for using cocaine and marijuana and preliminary inquiry voted; Special Counsel investigated and found no basis for statement of alleged violation. On Nov. 17, 1983, the committee took no further action.
![Photo of Rep. Ronald Dellums [D-CA9, 1993-1998]](/static/legislator-photos/403364-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Dellums is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 1998 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 Dellums sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 5, 1993 to Dec 17, 1998. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Dellums was the primary sponsor of 20 bills that were enacted. The most recent include:
- H.R. 4301 (103rd): National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1995
- H.R. 2401 (103rd): National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 1994
- H.R. 5623 (102nd): To waive the period of Congressional review for certain District of Columbia acts.
- H.R. 3709 (102nd): To waive the period of Congressional review for certain District of Columbia acts and to permit the Council of the District of Columbia to enact laws relating …
- H.R. 1720 (102nd): District of Columbia Mental Health Program Assistance Act of 1991
- H.R. 2968 (102nd): To waive the period of Congressional review of certain District of Columbia acts.
- H.R. 2123 (102nd): District of Columbia Budgetary Efficiency Act of 1991
Does 20 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
Dellums sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Government Operations and Politics (20%) Foreign Trade and International Finance (14%) Health (12%) Education (11%) Labor and Employment (11%) Armed Forces and National Security (11%) Crime and Law Enforcement (10%) Social Welfare (10%)
Recent Bills
Some of Dellums’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 1543 (105th): To amend the Immigration and Nationality Act to permit certain nonimmigrant aliens …
- H.R. 1374 (105th): Josephine Butler United States Health Service Act
- H.R. 1050 (105th): A Living Wage, Jobs for All Act
- H.R. 1798 (104th): United States Health Service Act
- H.R. 1050 (104th): Living Wage, Jobs For All Act
- H.R. 5292 (103rd): To amend the Defense Base Closure and Realignment Act of 1990 to …
- H.R. 5218 (103rd): Living Wage, Jobs For All Act
Voting Record
Missed Votes
From Jan 1971 to Feb 1998, Dellums missed 1,331 of 14,312 roll call votes, which is 9.3%. This is much worse than the median of 2.6% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Feb 1998. 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
- Biographical Directory of the United States Congress for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
