Owens was the representative for New York’s 21st congressional district and was a Democrat. He served from 2013 to 2014.
He was previously the representative for New York’s 23rd congressional district as a Democrat from 2009 to 2012.
Alleged misconduct & resolution
In 2012 Owens was investigated for accepting impermissible travel gifts in 2011. The House Committee on Ethics concluded that the gift was impermissible, but since Owens repaid the funds, the investigation was closed. Owens did not seek reelection in 2014.
| Aug. 30, 2012 | House Office of Congressional Ethics recommended that the Committee on Ethics further review the first allegation |
| Nov. 15, 2013 | House Committee on Ethics concluded that the gift was impermissible, but since Owens repaid the funds, the investigation was closed |
| 2014 | Owens did not seek reelection in 2014. |
![Photo of Rep. William Owens [D-NY21, 2013-2014]](/static/legislator-photos/412383-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2014 Report Card for Owens.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Owens is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2014 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 Owens sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 6, 2009 to Dec 11, 2014. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Owens was the primary sponsor of 1 bill that was enacted:
Does 1 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
Owens sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
Taxation (22%) Foreign Trade and International Finance (18%) Immigration (13%) Agriculture and Food (13%) Government Operations and Politics (11%) Economics and Public Finance (9%) Armed Forces and National Security (9%) Public Lands and Natural Resources (4%)
Recent Bills
Some of Owens’s most recently sponsored bills include...
- H.R. 5291 (113th): To amend the Harmonized Tariff Schedule of the United States with respect ...
- H.R. 5251 (113th): Incentivizing Foreign Investment to Upgrade America’s Infrastructure Act of 2014
- H.R. 3975 (113th): To amend title XVIII of the Social Security Act to provide coverage ...
- H.R. 3609 (113th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at ...
- H.R. 2250 (113th): Spending Reduction Act
- H.R. 1956 (113th): War on Debt Act of 2013
- H.R. 1608 (113th): Cody Miller Initiative for Safer Prescriptions Act
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Nov 2009 to Dec 2014, Owens missed 70 of 3,599 roll call votes, which is 1.9%. This is on par with the median of 2.5% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2014. 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
