SacBee: How effective are California’s senators and representatives? New survey rates them
By David Lightman
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.
High marks for Padilla
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.
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