Rubén Hinojosa, former Representative for Texas's 15th Congressional District

Hinojosa was the representative for Texas’s 15^th congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 1997 to 2016.

Alleged misconduct & resolution

In 2015 Hinojosa was investigated for travel funded or organized by one or more entities prohibited from providing congressional travel. The House Committee on Ethics concluded implicated House members did not intentionally accept gifts from prohibited entities. Hinojosa did not seek reelection in 2016.

May. 8, 2015	House Office of Congressional Ethics recommended that the Committee on Ethics further review the allegation
Jul. 31, 2015	House Committee on Ethics concluded implicated House members did not intentionally accept gifts from prohibited entities
2016	Hinojosa did not seek reelection.

Photo of Rep. Rubén Hinojosa [D-TX15, 1997-2016]

Analysis

Legislative Metrics

Read our 2016 Report Card for Hinojosa.

Ideology–Leadership Chart

Hinojosa is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2016 positioned according to our liberal–conservative ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).

The chart is based on the bills Hinojosa sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 5, 2011 to Dec 30, 2016. See full analysis methodology.

Enacted Legislation

Hinojosa was the primary sponsor of 5 bills that were enacted:

View All »

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 110^th Congress).

Bills Sponsored

Issue Areas

Hinojosa sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:

Education (43%) Finance and Financial Sector (14%) Labor and Employment (7%) Foreign Trade and International Finance (7%) Health (7%) Armed Forces and National Security (7%) Taxation (7%) Housing and Community Development (7%)

Recent Bills

Some of Hinojosa’s most recently sponsored bills include...

View All » | View Cosponsors »

Voting Record

Key Votes

Hinojosa’s Vote	Vote Description
Aye	H.R. 2146: Defending Public Safety Employees’ Retirement Act Jun 18, 2015. Passed 218/208. This vote made H.R. 2146 the vehicle for passage of Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal currently being negotiated. H.R. 2146 was originally introduced as a bill to address issues with retirement funds of federal law enforcement officers and firefighters. ...
Not Voting	H.R. 2048: Uniting and Strengthening America by Fulfilling Rights and Ensuring Effective Discipline Over Monitoring Act of 2015 May 13, 2015. Passed 338/88. The USA Freedom Act (H.R. 2048, Pub.L. 114–23) is a U.S. law enacted on June 2, 2015 that restored in modified form several provisions of the Patriot Act, which had expired the day before. The act imposes some new limits on the bulk collection of ...
Yea	H.R. 622: State and Local Sales Tax Deduction Fairness Act of 2015 Apr 16, 2015. Passed 272/152.
Aye	H.J.Res. 124 (113th): Continuing Appropriations Resolution, 2015 Sep 17, 2014. Passed 319/108.
Nay	H.Res. 23 (113th): Providing for consideration of the bill (H.R. 152) making supplemental appropriations for the fiscal year ending September ... Jan 15, 2013. Passed 367/52.
No	H.R. 6233 (112th): Agricultural Disaster Assistance Act of 2012 Aug 2, 2012. Passed 223/197.
Yea	H.R. 5325 (112th): Energy and Water Development and Related Agencies Appropriations Act, 2013 Jun 6, 2012. Passed 255/165.
Aye	H.R. 3078 (112th): United States-Colombia Trade Promotion Agreement Implementation Act Oct 12, 2011. Passed 262/167.
Aye	H.R. 1249 (112th): Leahy-Smith America Invents Act Jun 23, 2011. Passed 304/117. The Leahy–Smith America Invents Act (AIA) is a United States federal statute that was passed by Congress and was signed into law by President Barack Obama on September 16, 2011. The law represents the most significant legislative change to the U.S. patent system since the ...
Nay	H.Res. 317 (111th): Recognizing the region from Manhattan, Kansas, to Columbia, Missouri, as the Kansas City Animal Health Corridor, and ... Sep 15, 2009. Passed 312/108.

Missed Votes

From Jan 1997 to Dec 2016, Hinojosa missed 1,496 of 13,498 roll call votes, which is 11.1%. This is much worse than the median of 2.4% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2016. The chart below reports missed votes over time.

Show the numbers...

Time Period	Votes Eligible	Missed Votes	Percent	Percentile
1997 Jan-Mar	71	0	0.0%	0^th
1997 Apr-Jun	174	1	0.6%	19^th
1997 Jul-Sep	232	4	1.7%	45^th
1997 Oct-Nov	163	4	2.5%	59^th
1998 Jan-Mar	89	7	7.9%	76^th
1998 Apr-Jun	185	10	5.4%	75^th
1998 Jul-Sep	199	9	4.5%	70^th
1998 Oct-Dec	74	4	5.4%	76^th
1999 Jan-Mar	77	1	1.3%	33^rd
1999 Apr-Jun	184	14	7.6%	84^th
1999 Jul-Sep	204	1	0.5%	28^th
1999 Oct-Nov	146	26	17.8%	98^th
2000 Jan-Mar	95	36	37.9%	97^th
2000 Apr-Jun	277	22	7.9%	86^th
2000 Jul-Sep	130	8	6.2%	84^th
2000 Oct-Dec	101	7	6.9%	46^th
2001 Jan-Mar	75	5	6.7%	86^th
2001 Apr-Jun	135	8	5.9%	82^nd
2001 Jul-Sep	149	11	7.4%	89^th
2001 Oct-Dec	153	2	1.3%	36^th
2002 Jan-Mar	79	20	25.3%	99^th
2002 Apr-Jun	203	19	9.4%	91^st
2002 Jul-Sep	141	5	3.5%	61^st
2002 Oct-Nov	61	8	13.1%	89^th
2003 Jan-Mar	94	4	4.3%	75^th
2003 Apr-Jun	239	12	5.0%	81^st
2003 Jul-Sep	193	4	2.1%	54^th
2003 Oct-Dec	151	4	2.6%	42^nd
2004 Jan-Mar	104	27	26.0%	99^th
2004 Apr-Jun	221	15	6.8%	82^nd
2004 Jul-Sep	161	10	6.2%	69^th
2004 Oct-Dec	58	21	36.2%	99^th
2005 Jan-Mar	90	16	17.8%	97^th
2005 Apr-Jun	272	25	9.2%	92^nd
2005 Jul-Sep	146	61	41.8%	99^th
2005 Oct-Dec	163	1	0.6%	17^th
2006 Jan-Mar	81	11	13.6%	94^th
2006 Apr-Jun	276	8	2.9%	63^rd
2006 Jul-Sep	159	20	12.6%	95^th
2006 Nov-Dec	27	2	7.4%	64^th
2007 Jan-Mar	213	11	5.2%	84^th
2007 Apr-Jun	393	27	6.9%	88^th
2007 Jul-Sep	317	56	17.7%	97^th
2007 Oct-Dec	263	41	15.6%	98^th
2008 Jan-Mar	149	33	22.1%	96^th
2008 Apr-Jun	321	31	9.7%	88^th
2008 Jul-Sep	205	22	10.7%	90^th
2008 Oct-Dec	15	0	0.0%	0^th
2009 Jan-Mar	174	15	8.6%	91^st
2009 Apr-Jun	303	33	10.9%	95^th
2009 Jul-Sep	268	14	5.2%	85^th
2009 Oct-Dec	246	22	8.9%	89^th
2010 Jan-Mar	195	30	15.4%	95^th
2010 Apr-Jun	219	35	16.0%	96^th
2010 Jul-Sep	151	29	19.2%	98^th
2010 Nov-Dec	99	18	18.2%	92^nd
2011 Jan-Mar	212	80	37.7%	100^th
2011 Apr-Jun	281	11	3.9%	82^nd
2011 Jul-Sep	247	2	0.8%	36^th
2011 Oct-Dec	208	11	5.3%	82^nd
2012 Jan-Mar	151	18	11.9%	93^rd
2012 Apr-Jun	299	16	5.4%	78^th
2012 Jul-Sep	152	8	5.3%	84^th
2012 Nov-Dec	51	3	5.9%	71^st
2013 Jan-Jan	5	0	0.0%	0^th
2013 Jan-Mar	89	16	18.0%	95^th
2013 Apr-Jun	215	19	8.8%	91^st
2013 Jul-Sep	200	12	6.0%	87^th
2013 Oct-Dec	137	14	10.2%	92^nd
2014 Jan-Mar	148	59	39.9%	99^th
2014 Apr-Jun	219	27	12.3%	92^nd
2014 Jul-Sep	147	2	1.4%	48^th
2014 Nov-Dec	49	6	12.2%	95^th
2015 Jan-Mar	144	78	54.2%	99^th
2015 Apr-Jun	244	58	23.8%	99^th
2015 Jul-Sep	139	10	7.2%	85^th
2015 Oct-Dec	177	24	13.6%	96^th
2016 Jan-Mar	137	18	13.1%	88^th
2016 Apr-Jun	204	75	36.8%	99^th
2016 Jul-Sep	232	33	14.2%	93^rd
2016 Nov-Dec	48	6	12.5%	88^th

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
GPO Member Guide for the photo
GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills

Rep. Rubén Hinojosa

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