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Rep. Scott Peters’s 2016 Report Card

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

These statistics cover Peters’s record during the 114th Congress (Jan 6, 2015-Jan 3, 2017) and compare him to other representatives also serving at the end of the session. Last updated on Aug 24, 2017. The statistics were updated on Jan 20, 2017 and Aug 24, 2017 to improve how we counted enacted laws. Originally published on Jan 7, 2017.

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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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 559 bills that Peters cosponsored, 36% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (87th percentile); House Sophomores (77th percentile); House Democrats (70th percentile); All Representatives (86th percentile).

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

Got bipartisan cosponsors on the 7th most bills compared to House Democrats (tied with 3 others)

In this era of partisanship, it is important to see Members of Congress working across the aisle. 13 of Peters’s 31 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in the 114th Congress.

Compare to all California Delegation (94th percentile); House Sophomores (93rd percentile); House Democrats (95th percentile); All Representatives (89th percentile).

 

Cosponsored the 26th most bills compared to All Representatives

Peters cosponsored 559 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 (83rd percentile); House Sophomores (93rd percentile); House Democrats (87th percentile); All Representatives (94th percentile).

 

Introduced the 44th most bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 2 others)

Peters introduced 31 bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress. View Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (87th percentile); House Sophomores (90th percentile); House Democrats (88th percentile); All Representatives (90th percentile).

 

Supported government transparency the 45th most often compared to All Representatives (tied with 21 others)

GovTrack looked at whether Peters supported any of 40 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Peters 5 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; H.R. 5051: OPEN Government Data Act; H.Con.Res. 169: Establishing a Joint Committee on …

Compare to all California Delegation (69th percentile); House Sophomores (81st percentile); House Democrats (70th percentile); All Representatives (85th percentile).

 

Laws Enacted

Peters introduced 0 bills that became law, including via incorporation into other measures, in the 114th Congress. 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); House Sophomores (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

The legislator must be the primary sponsor of the bill or joint resolution that was enacted or the primary sponsor of a bill or joint resolution for which at least about one third of its text was incorporated into another bill or joint resolution that was enacted as law, as determined by an automated analysis. While a legislator may lay claim to authoring other bills that became law, these cases are difficult for us to track quantitatively. We also exclude bills where the sponsor’s original intent is not in the final bill.
 

Bills Out of Committee

Most bills and resolutions languish in committee without any action. Peters introduced 0 bills in the 114th Congress that got past committee and to the floor for consideration.

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

 

Powerful Cosponsors

4 of Peters’s bills and resolutions in the 114th Congress 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. 776: Expressing support for designation of …; H.R. 2227: STRONG Act; H.R. 2639: Marriage and Family Therapists for …; H.R. 2861: Veteran Employment Transition Act

Compare to all California Delegation (58th percentile); House Sophomores (55th percentile); House Democrats (56th percentile); All Representatives (60th 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); 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); House Sophomores (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

 

Cosponsors

Peters’s bills and resolutions had 276 cosponsors in the 114th Congress. 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 (56th percentile); House Sophomores (55th percentile); House Democrats (58th percentile); All Representatives (61st percentile).

 

Ideology Score

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 the 114th Congress is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Peters’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all California Delegation (60th percentile); House Sophomores (34th percentile); House Democrats (72nd percentile); All Representatives (31st 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 the 114th Congress is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Peters’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all California Delegation (54th percentile); House Sophomores (42nd percentile); House Democrats (57th percentile); All Representatives (46th percentile).

 

Missed Votes

Peters missed 1.6% of votes (21 of 1,325 votes) in the 114th Congress. View Peters’s Profile »

Compare to all California Delegation (37th percentile); House Sophomores (41st percentile); All Representatives (38th 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 the 114th Congress) 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.