SACRAMENTO BEE: HOW EFFECTIVE ARE CALIFORNIA’S SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES? NEW SURVEY RATES THEM
Sen. Alex Padilla and Rep. Doris Matsui ranked among the most effective members of the last Congress, a new survey found Tuesday.
Other state lawmakers also did well. “On average, California lawmakers seem to be outperforming other members of Congress,” said Craig Volden, a co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking, a nonpartisan organization that conducted the study.
Many California Democrats, though, were rated as less effective, unsurprising since Republicans ran the House in the last Congress.
One key finding of the report is that despite all the partisan rhetoric, lawmaking generally remains a collaborative, often bipartisan process.
“We see a large degree of consistency” in how the process works over the years, said Volden. The metrics emphasized how many of a member’s bills became law, either separately or part of other legislation.
Padilla, appointed to his California Senate seat in 2021 and then elected in 2022, chaired two subcommittees in the last Congress. One involved fisheries, wildlife and water. The other dealt with immigration, citizenship and border safety.
The study rated Padilla the Senate’s second most effective Democrat last year. He was runner-up to Sen. Gary Peters, D-Mich.. California’s junior senator, Adam Schiff, a Democrat, took office in December.
Padilla sponsored 92 bills in the last Congress. The Senate passed nine and two eventually became law.
Three of his bills were mostly included in other measures that became law. Among them was the Office of Disaster Recovery and Resilience Act, which creates an office to provide economic recovery help to areas ravaged by disasters..
Also becoming law was the Fusion Energy Act of 2024, which wound up in budget legislation. The act is designed to allow the Nuclear Regulatory Commission to have regulatory authority over commercial fusion energy systems for certain purposes.
“The fact that both of these sponsored bills were referred to committees where he sat presumably provided him with opportunities to ensure that these measures were incorporated into other bills that were likely to advance further in the legislative process,” the report said.
Matsui, a veteran Democratic lawmaker who first entered the House in 2005, got high marks for her work on health and science issues.
She’s a senior member of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which writes legislation on health care, environment, energy, telecommunications and consumer protection.
Among California Democrats, only former Rep. Katie Porter, D-Irvine, scored higher. Porter, who lost a bid for the Senate last year, is known as a fierce consumer protection advocate.
Republicans ranking high included Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Elk Grove. A House member since 2009, he chairs the House immigration subcommittee.
Also scoring above average was Rep. David Valadao, R-Hanford. He’s a member of the powerful budget-writing House Appropriations Committee.
Among those whose scores ranked them as less effective than average were Reps. Jim Costa, 178th of 220 Democrats; Ami Bera of Sacramento, 157th and Josh Harder of Tracy, 45th. Republican Kevin Kiley, R-Roseville, a new member in the last Congress, was 154th of 228 Republicans.
Costa, D-Fresno, said the survey did not take into account the work he’s done to improve infrastructure, water, broadband and health care in his district.
“I can point to literally billions of dollars we’re been able to get for improvements in water,” he said.
First elected to Congress in 2004, Costa has sponsored 11 bills and co-sponsored 199 bills signed into law.
Kiley argued he’s been quite effective. “Since coming to Congress in 2023, I have championed workers’ rights, leading efforts to overturn restrictive labor regulations and shepherding the Lake Tahoe Restoration Reauthorization Act through the House Natural Resources Committee and the House of Representatives. The LTRRA’s extension in September was a tremendous success, unleashing nearly $300 million in conservation efforts for Lake Tahoe.,” he said.
The Tahoe act was the only major public lands bill passed in the last Congress, Kiley said.
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