Jackson Lee is the representative for Texas’s 18th congressional district (view map) and is a Democrat. She has served since Jan 4, 1995. Jackson Lee is next up for reelection in 2020.
Alleged misconduct & resolution
In 2015 Lee 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.
| 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 |
![Photo of Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee [D-TX18]](/static/legislator-photos/400199-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2018 Report Card for Jackson Lee.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Jackson Lee is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot is a member of the House of Representatives 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 Jackson Lee has sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2015 to Nov 8, 2019. See full analysis methodology.
Ratings from Advocacy Organizations
Committee Membership
Sheila Jackson Lee sits on the following committees:
- House Committee on the Budget
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House Committee on Homeland Security
- Member, Subcommittee on Cybersecurity, Infrastructure Protection, and Innovation
- Member, Subcommittee on Intelligence and Counterterrorism
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House Committee on the Judiciary
- Member, Subcommittee on Crime, Terrorism and Homeland Security
- Member, Subcommittee on Immigration and Citizenship
- Member, Subcommittee on The Constitution, Civil Rights, and Civil Liberties
Enacted Legislation
Jackson Lee was the primary sponsor of 6 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 710 (114th): To require the Secretary of Homeland Security to prepare a comprehensive security assessment of the transportation security card program, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 78 (113th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 4110 Almeda Road in Houston, Texas, as the “George Thomas ‘Mickey’ Leland Post Office Building”.
- H.R. 6510 (111th): To direct the Administrator of General Services to convey a parcel of real property in Houston, Texas, to the Military Museum of Texas, and for other purposes.
- H.R. 6610 (110th): To amend the Federal Rules of Evidence to address the waiver of the attorney-client privilege and the work product doctrine.
- H.R. 6212 (110th): Medicare Efficiency and Development of Improvement of Care and Services Act (MEDICS Act) of 2008
- H.R. 4510 (109th): To direct the Joint Committee on the Library to accept the donation of a bust depicting Sojourner Truth and to display the bust in a suitable location ...
Does 6 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
Jackson Lee sponsors bills primarily in these issue areas:
Crime and Law Enforcement (43%) Emergency Management (17%) International Affairs (11%) Civil Rights and Liberties, Minority Issues (7%) Education (6%) Armed Forces and National Security (6%)
Recent Bills
Some of Jackson Lee’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 4804: Prohibiting Threatened and Endangered Creature Trophies Act of 2019
- H.R. 4339: End Racial Profiling Act of 2019
- H.R. 4290: To direct the Secretary of Veterans Affairs to designate a week as “Battle ...
- H.R. 4140: Foreign Extortion Prevention Act
- H.R. 4082: Santa Fe High School Victims Act
- H.R. 4081: Sabika Sheikh Firearm Licensing and Registration Act
- H.R. 4080: Kimberly Vaughan Firearm Safe Storage Act
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 1995 to Nov 2019, Jackson Lee missed 986 of 16,659 roll call votes, which is 5.9%. This is much worse than the median of 2.1% among the lifetime records of representatives currently serving. 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
- GPO Member Guide for the photo
- GovInfo.gov, for sponsored bills
