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Rep. Xavier Becerra’s 2015 Report Card

Representative from California's 34th District
Democrat
Served Jan 3, 2013 – Jan 24, 2017

These year-end statistics cover Becerra’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 Becerra’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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Got bipartisan cosponsors on the lowest % of bills compared to All Representatives (tied with 1 other)

Becerra tends to gather cosponsors only on one side of the aisle. 0% of Becerra’s 14 bills and resolutions had both a Democratic cosponsor and a Republican cosponsor in 2015.

Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th percentile).

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

Joined bipartisan bills the 5th least often compared to House Democrats

Of the 85 bills that Becerra cosponsored, 14% were introduced by a legislator who was not a Democrat. View Cosponsored Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (15th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (34th percentile); House Democrats (2nd percentile); Safe House Seats (44th percentile); All Representatives (42nd percentile).

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

Cosponsored the 6th fewest bills compared to House Democrats

Becerra cosponsored 85 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 (4th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (9th percentile); House Democrats (3rd percentile); Safe House Seats (8th percentile); All Representatives (7th percentile).

 

Got influential cosponsors the 33rd least often compared to Serving 10+ Years (tied with 28 others)

1 of Becerra’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. 1419: Social Security Fraud and Error …

Compare to all California Delegation (15th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (19th percentile); House Democrats (21st percentile); Safe House Seats (20th percentile); All Representatives (21st percentile).

 

Was 77th most absent in votes compared to All Representatives (tied with 3 others)

Becerra missed 4.8% of votes (34 of 704 votes) in 2015. View Becerra’s Profile »

Compare to all California Delegation (72nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (77th percentile); Safe House Seats (80th percentile); All Representatives (82nd 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.
 

Laws Enacted

Becerra 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); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (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 Introduced

Becerra introduced 14 bills and resolutions in 2015. View Bills »

Compare to all California Delegation (66th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (59th percentile); House Democrats (67th percentile); Safe House Seats (69th percentile); All Representatives (70th percentile).

 

Bills Out of Committee

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

Compare to all California Delegation (0th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (0th percentile); House Democrats (0th percentile); Safe House Seats (0th percentile); All Representatives (0th 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 Becerra’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. 4128: Taxpayer Rights Act of 2015

Compare to all California Delegation (30th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (23rd percentile); House Democrats (30th percentile); Safe House Seats (29th percentile); All Representatives (29th percentile).

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

Committee Positions

Becerra held a leadership position on 0 committees and 1 subcommittee, as either a chair (majority party) or ranking member (minority party), at the end of the session. View Becerra’s Profile »

Compare to all California Delegation (34th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (17th percentile); House Democrats (38th percentile); Safe House Seats (36th percentile); All Representatives (38th percentile).

 

Cosponsors

Becerra’s bills and resolutions had 109 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 (42nd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (37th percentile); House Democrats (44th percentile); Safe House Seats (43rd percentile); All Representatives (44th 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 2015 is considered, the ideology score here may differ from Becerra’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all California Delegation (57th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (39th percentile); House Democrats (70th percentile); Safe House Seats (34th 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 2015 is considered, the leadership score here may differ from Becerra’s score elsewhere on GovTrack.

Compare to all California Delegation (43rd percentile); Serving 10+ Years (31st percentile); House Democrats (44th percentile); Safe House Seats (34th percentile); All Representatives (35th percentile).

 

Government Transparency

GovTrack looked at whether Becerra supported any of 28 government transparency, accountability, and effectiveness bills in the House that we identified in this session. We gave Becerra 2 points, based on one point for cosponsoring and three points for sponsoring any of these bills.

Becerra cosponsored H.R. 430: DISCLOSE 2015 Act; H.R. 20: Government By the People Act …

Compare to all California Delegation (47th percentile); Serving 10+ Years (59th percentile); House Democrats (31st percentile); Safe House Seats (62nd percentile); All Representatives (65th 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.