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Rep. Scott Peters’s 2013 Report Card

Representative from California's 52nd District
Democrat
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 3, 2023

These year-end statistics cover Peters’s record during the 2013 legislative year (Jan 3, 2013-Dec 26, 2013) and compare him to other representatives serving at the end of that period. Last updated on Dec 1, 2014. On Dec. 1, 2014, the statistics were updated to remove Sen. Schatz from the list of Senate sophomores. Schatz only served for several days in the preceding Congress.

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 Peters’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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Introduced the 2nd most bills compared to House Freshmen

Peters introduced 19 bills and resolutions in 2013. View Bills »

Compare to all Competitive House Seats (88th percentile); California Delegation (89th percentile); House Freshmen (97th percentile); House Democrats (85th percentile); All Representatives (88th percentile).

 

Ranked 6th most politically left compared to Competitive House Seats

Our 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 2013 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Peters’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Competitive House Seats (12th percentile); California Delegation (53rd percentile); House Freshmen (28th percentile); House Democrats (65th percentile); All Representatives (31st percentile).

 

Got the 7th most cosponsors on their bills compared to House Freshmen

Peters’s bills and resolutions had 208 cosponsors in 2013. 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 Competitive House Seats (72nd percentile); California Delegation (72nd percentile); House Freshmen (91st percentile); House Democrats (77th percentile); All Representatives (73rd percentile).

 

Joined bipartisan bills the 7th most often compared to California Delegation

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 220 bills that Peters cosponsored, 36% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all Competitive House Seats (56th percentile); California Delegation (87th percentile); House Freshmen (76th percentile); House Democrats (68th percentile); All Representatives (85th percentile).

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

Cosponsored the 13th most bills compared to House Freshmen

Peters cosponsored 220 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 Competitive House Seats (79th percentile); California Delegation (72nd percentile); House Freshmen (83rd percentile); House Democrats (68th percentile); All Representatives (82nd percentile).

 

Ranked the 13th top leader compared to House Freshmen

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 2013 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Peters’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all Competitive House Seats (63rd percentile); California Delegation (57th percentile); House Freshmen (83rd percentile); House Democrats (71st percentile); All Representatives (57th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Peters introduced 0 bills that became law in 2013. Keep in mind that it takes a law to repeal a law. Very few bills ever become law.

Compare to all Competitive House Seats (0th percentile); California Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

We only count enacted bills (and joint resolutions) that the legislator was the primary sponsor of. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, such as through companion bills or incorporation into larger bills, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively.
 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Peters introduced 0 bills in 2013 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

Compare to all Competitive House Seats (0th percentile); California Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Powerful Cosponsors

1 of Peters’s bills and resolutions in 2013 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.Res. 331: Expressing support for designation of …

Compare to all Competitive House Seats (33rd percentile); California Delegation (26th percentile); House Freshmen (46th percentile); House Democrats (31st percentile); All Representatives (31st 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 Peters’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. 2322: Strengthening The Resiliency of Our …

Compare to all Competitive House Seats (30th percentile); California Delegation (38th percentile); House Freshmen (53rd percentile); House Democrats (37th percentile); All Representatives (36th percentile).

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

Writing Bipartisan Bills

Peters tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 32% of Peters’s 19 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2013.

Compare to all Competitive House Seats (28th percentile); California Delegation (50th percentile); House Democrats (58th percentile); All Representatives (47th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Peters 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 Peters’s Profile »

Compare to all Competitive House Seats (0th percentile); California Delegation (0th percentile); House Freshmen (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Peters missed 1.6% of votes (10 of 641 votes) in 2013. View Peters’s Profile »

Compare to all Competitive House Seats (49th percentile); California Delegation (42nd percentile); House Freshmen (53rd percentile); All Representatives (41st 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.
 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Peters supported any of 12 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Peters 1 point, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Peters cosponsored H.R. 1380: Access to Congressionally Mandated Reports …

Compare to all Competitive House Seats (86th percentile); California Delegation (68th percentile); House Freshmen (74th percentile); House Democrats (74th percentile); All Representatives (80th 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 2013) was the 113th Congress (freshmen) or 112th (sophomores). Members of Congress who took office within the last few months of a Congress are considered freshmen in the next Congress as well.