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Rep. Scott Peters’s 2015 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 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 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 most bills compared to Competitive House Seats

Peters introduced 27 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (94th percentile); Competitive House Seats (98th percentile); House Sophomores (97th percentile); House Democrats (94th percentile); All Representatives (95th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the most bills compared to Competitive House Seats

Peters cosponsored 381 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 California Delegation (87th percentile); Competitive House Seats (98th percentile); House Sophomores (93rd percentile); House Democrats (90th percentile); All Representatives (95th percentile).

 

Ranked 4th 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 2015 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Peters’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all California Delegation (51st percentile); Competitive House Seats (5th percentile); House Sophomores (26th percentile); House Democrats (60th percentile); All Representatives (26th percentile).

 

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 5th lowest % of bills compared to Competitive House Seats

Peters tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 33% of Peters’s 27 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015.

Compare to all Competitive House Seats (20th percentile); California Delegation (50th percentile); House Sophomores (42nd percentile); House Democrats (54th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile).

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

Joined bipartisan bills the 66th most often compared to All Representatives

In this era of partisanship, it is encouraging to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. Of the 381 bills that Peters cosponsored, 34% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (83rd percentile); Competitive House Seats (71st percentile); House Sophomores (77th percentile); House Democrats (67th 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.
 

Laws Enacted

Peters 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 California Delegation (0th percentile); Competitive House Seats (0th percentile); House Sophomores (0th percentile); House Democrats (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.
 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Peters introduced 0 bills in 2015 that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

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

 

Powerful Cosponsors

3 of Peters’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. 2227: Strengthening The Resiliency of Our …; H.R. 2639: Marriage and Family Therapists for …; H.R. 2861: Veteran Employment Transition Act

Compare to all California Delegation (57th percentile); Competitive House Seats (67th percentile); House Sophomores (68th percentile); House Democrats (57th percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile).

 

Working with the Senate

The House and Senate often work on the same issue simultaneously by introducing companion bills in each chamber. 0 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.

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

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

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 California Delegation (0th percentile); Competitive House Seats (0th percentile); House Sophomores (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Cosponsors

Peters’s bills and resolutions had 181 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 California Delegation (60th percentile); Competitive House Seats (71st percentile); House Sophomores (63rd percentile); House Democrats (59th percentile); All Representatives (62nd percentile).

 

Leadership Score

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 2015 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Peters’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all California Delegation (49th percentile); Competitive House Seats (47th percentile); House Sophomores (37th percentile); House Democrats (49th percentile); All Representatives (40th percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Peters missed 2.0% of votes (14 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Peters’s Profile »

Compare to all California Delegation (53rd percentile); Competitive House Seats (62nd percentile); House Sophomores (60th percentile); All Representatives (53rd 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 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Peters 3 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Peters cosponsored H.R. 430: DISCLOSE 2015 Act; H.R. 20: Government By the People Act …; H.R. 714: Leadership PAC Limitation Act

Compare to all California Delegation (58th percentile); Competitive House Seats (91st percentile); House Sophomores (79th percentile); House Democrats (66th percentile); All Representatives (82nd 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 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.