Only a third of LA County’s congressional delegation got bills passed in 2023 and 2024
Only a third of LA County’s congressional delegation got bills passed in 2023 and 2024
Of the 17 House members who represented Los Angeles County in the 118th Congress — which ran from Jan. 3, 2023, to Jan. 3, 2025 — only six, roughly one-third of the delegation, saw any of their bills become law.
All told, just eight of the 470 bills introduced by these members of the L.A. County delegation made it across the finish line then.
Of those eight, three renamed post offices.
Experts say that’s not unusual – and it doesn’t necessarily mean local lawmakers were ineffective.
“Frankly, very few bills make it to public law, and that’s not a new development,” said Worth Hester, assistant director of the Government Affairs Institute at Georgetown University. “While the total number of bills introduced varies widely from Congress to Congress, you can have anywhere from 12,000 to 16,000, House and Senate combined. About 1.5 to 3% make it to public law.”
Among the L.A. County delegation, Republicans saw a disproportionate level of success: Only three of the 17 House seats in the county (approximately 18%) were held by Republicans during the last Congress. Yet three of the eight bills authored by members of the L.A. County delegation that became law (37.5%) were brought forward by GOP members.
That may not be surprising, given that Republicans controlled the House during the 118th Congress.
As in years past, the Southern California News Group crunched the numbers to measure how well members of Congress fared over the last two years.
The analysis quantifies the number of bills lawmakers got passed, how much money they sent home to their districts in the form of earmarks and how far their messages spread on social media.
Part of the data came from the Center for Effective Lawmaking, a joint project of the University of Virginia and Vanderbilt University that looks at more than a dozen data points related to bills introduced by lawmakers, how often those bills are discussed in committee and how much of their bills’ language becomes law, even if it gets folded into someone else’s legislation.
All that gets factored into a legislative effectiveness score that the center puts out, which is included on this report card.
According to the center, House Republicans had an average legislative effectiveness score of 1.44. House Democrats had an average score of 0.55.
Among the L.A. County delegation, the average scores were 1.83 for House Republicans and 0.62 for Democrats.
The highest individual score went to Republican Rep. Sam Graves, R-Missouri, who received 6.79 points.
The highest scoring Californian was Rep. Young Kim, a Republican from Orange County, with a score of 3.92.
Rep. Michelle Steel, a Republican who represented parts of Orange and L.A. counties, received 2.53 points — the top-scoring House member to represent any part of L.A. County.
Senate Democrats — which includes three from California in the 118th Congress — averaged a score of 1.11. (California had three U.S. senators during the last session due to the death of Sen. Dianne Feinstein in 2023. Sen. Laphonza Butler was appointed to fill that vacancy.)
But it’s not always easy to quantify what members of Congress do.
They can also provide so-called “constituent services” on behalf of the people they represent, ranging from writing letters of recommendation for a high schooler to helping a voter get Social Security benefits and more.
“I can think of lots of dedicated public servants who don’t get a lot of legislation passed but are focused on other issues,” said Alan E. Wiseman, a political science professor at Vanderbilt University and co-director of the Center for Effective Lawmaking.
Here’s how members of the L.A. County delegation fared:
Bills introduced: 23, 1 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 11
Earmarks requested: $13,357,031 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 1.03
Social media reach: 62,857
Barragán introduced H.R. 9139, to authorize the Secretary of the Navy to convey or lease certain land parcels at Defense Fuel Support Point San Pedro. Provisions of that bill ended up being incorporated into H.R. 5009, a bipartisan bill sponsored by Rep. David Joyce, a Republican from Ohio, which was signed into law in December 2024.
Bills introduced: 51, 0 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 2
Earmarks requested: $13,072,954 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 0.98
Social media reach: 56,486
Brownley introduced H.R. 8754, the Saving Our Interconnected Lives (SOIL) Act, which would have increased payments to agricultural producers to encourage practices that benefit both soil and wildlife habitat under the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Environmental Quality Incentives Program and the Conservation Stewardship Program.
Another bill that Brownley sponsored was H.R. 544, which would have required the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs to provide infertility care to any veteran or their partner and repealed the ban on using donated gametes and embryos, thus allowing LGBTQ+ veterans, single veterans and those without their own sperm, eggs or uterus the chance to start a family.
Bills introduced: 17, 0 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 6
Earmarks requested: $12,929,279 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 0.15
Social media reach: 68,452
A bill Cárdenas introduced, H.R. 8626, the Prohibiting Detention of Youth Status Offenders Act, would have eliminated the use of court orders to lock up juveniles in secure detention for “status” offenses that wouldn’t be considered criminal if committed by an adult, such as skipping school or violating curfew.
He also sponsored H.R. 4976, the Protecting Miranda Rights for Kids Act, which would have protected minors from prematurely waiving their constitutional rights while being interrogated by law enforcement by, among other things, requiring the minor to first consult with legal counsel in person before such waiver.
Cárdenas retired in December 2024. Rep. Luz Rivas, D-Pacoima, now represents the district.
Bills introduced: 28, 0 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 11
Earmarks requested: $17,860,783 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 0.38
Social media reach: 121,154
Among the bills Chu introduced was H.R. 5248, the Southeast Asian Deportation Relief Act of 2023, which would have prevented the deportation of three specific refugees from Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam.
She also introduced H.R. 7489, which would have helped school districts in low-income areas recruit and retain mental health staff.
Bills introduced: 24, 2 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 1
Earmarks requested: $27,523,345 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 1.87
Social media reach: 69,423
Two of Garcia’s bills were signed into law, including H.R. 292 to name a U.S. Postal Service facility in Santa Clarita after Vietnam War veteran William L. Reynolds, who died in 2021.
His other successful bill, H.R. 9468, provided additional funds to the Veterans Benefits Administration and set reporting requirements related to funding to the Department of Veterans Affairs.
Garcia lost his bid for reelection in 2024. Rep. George Whitesides, D-Agua Dulce, now represents the district.
Bills introduced: 20, 2 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 4
Earmarks requested: $15,708,979 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 0.86
Social media reach: 557,373
Garcia authored H.R. 5301, a bipartisan bill to improve government efficiency by eliminating outdated and unnecessary federal agency reports to Congress. It was signed into law in December.
He also sponsored H.R. 5300, to strengthen the independence and effectiveness of the Government Accountability Office’s inspector general. Provisions of Garcia’s bill were incorporated into S. 1510, sponsored by Indiana Republican Sen. Mike Braun, which was signed into law in November.
Bills introduced: 16, 1 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 5
Earmarks requested: $11,184,031 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 0.32
Social media reach: 112,335
Gomez’s bill, which was signed into law, was H.R. 599, to name a U.S. post office in L.A.’s Koreatown after Korean independence activist Dosan Ahn Chang Ho, who immigrated to the U.S. and helped found early Korean American community groups.
Bills introduced: 23, 0 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 11
Earmarks requested: $12,369,279 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 0.84
Social media reach: 46,119
Kamlager-Dove introduced H.R. 982, the Pregnant Women in Custody Act, to address pregnancy- and childbirth-related health needs of incarcerated women, including ensuring access to proper health care, nutrition and living conditions.
She also introduced H.R. 6484, which would have provided continued health insurance coverage for individuals who were previously in foster care up until they were 26.
Bills introduced: 50, 1 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 7
Earmarks requested: $11,553,383 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 0.85
Social media reach: 1,884,054
Lieu authored H.R. 5542 to create an independent appeals process and greater transparency surrounding decisions to restrict State Department employees from taking certain assignments, such as working in a particular country. Such restrictions had been discriminatory, biased or counterproductive to the goals of diversity, inclusion and retention of talent at times, Lieu believed.
Provisions of that bill were incorporated into another bill, H.R. 2670, the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2024, sponsored by Alabama Republican Rep. Mike Rogers, which was signed into law.
Bills introduced: 11, 0 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 4
Earmarks requested: $19,735,279 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 0.20
Social media reach: 52,922
One of Napolitano’s bills, H.R. 4954, the Immigrants’ Mental Health Act, would have expanded and improved access to trauma-informed mental health interventions for newly arriving immigrants at the border.
Another bill, H.R. 4933, would have modified student loan repayment plans for those who help treat substance use disorders, as a way to address workforce shortages.
Napolitano retired in late 2024. California’s 31st Congressional District is now represented by Rep. Gil Cisneros, D-Covina.
Bills introduced: 19, 0 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 2
Earmarks requested: $21,131,400 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 1.08
Social media reach: 27,924
Among the bills Obernolte introduced were H.R. 498, which would have required the operators of the 988 suicide hotline to respond to cybersecurity vulnerabilities and incidents in the system and to report to the federal government about any cybersecurity issues.
He also sponsored H.R. 6869, which would have removed land from the San Bernardino National Forest and made it available for mining and other commercial purposes.
Bills introduced: 15, 0 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 6
Earmarks requested: $13,689,279 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 0.14
Social media reach: 79,618
Among the bills Sánchez introduced was H.R. 3194, the U.S. Citizenship Act, which would have created a pathway to citizenship for certain undocumented immigrants, including those who arrived as minors, held temporary protected status or worked in agriculture.
She also sponsored H.R. 6031, which would have required schools to create rules that protect students from bullying and harassment based on race, gender, disability or religion and to track regularly how often bullying happens.
Bills introduced: 63, 0 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 8
Earmarks requested: $12,934,626 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 0.59
Social media reach: 5,279,393
Among the bills that Schiff introduced was H.R. 6251, the Helping Educators Respond to Overdoses (HERO) Act, which would have created a grant program to provide schools with opioid overdose reversal drugs.
Another bill of his, H.R. 6063, would have allowed individuals in a labor dispute to receive unemployment benefits.
Schiff served in the House of Representatives until December 2024. Shortly after he was elected to the U.S. Senate, he was appointed by Gov. Gavin Newsom to serve out the remainder of the late Sen. Dianne Feinstein‘s term. Up to that point, Sen. Laphonza Butler, also appointed by Newsom, had filled the vacancy.
With Schiff moving to the Senate, voters in the 30th Congressional District in November elected Rep. Laura Friedman, D-Glendale, to represent them in the House.
Bills introduced: 15, 0 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 0
Earmarks requested: $16,788,348 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 0.79
Social media reach: 199,102
Sherman, as he has every session since 2008, introduced a bill, H.R. 5351, intended to stop states from being able to ban labor agreements that require someone to join a union as a condition of employment.
He also introduced H.R. 1794, the LA28 Olympic and Paralympic Games Commemorative Coin Act, which would have required the U.S. Secretary of the Treasury to mint coins in commemoration of the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
Bills introduced: 38, 1 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 9
Earmarks requested: $27,064,210 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 2.53
Social media reach: 45,572
Steel’s lone bill signed into law during the 118th Congress was H.R. 8057, which renamed a post office in Westminster the “Little Saigon Vietnam War Veterans Memorial Post Office.” The newly designated post office was formally unveiled in April, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the fall of Saigon. The site sits in the heart of California’s 45th Congressional District, home to one of the largest Vietnamese diasporas in the world.
Steel lost reelection in 2024 to Democratic Rep. Derek Tran.
Bills introduced: 21, 0 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 8
Earmarks requested: $14,798,393 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 0.30
Social media reach: 136,138
Among the bills Torres introduced was H.R. 3275, the Mudslide Recovery Act, which would have directed the Departments of the Interior and Homeland Security to establish a pilot grant program to address damage from mudslides occurring after a wildfire.
She also introduced H.R. 8747, the Asbestos Exposure in Housing Reduction Act of 2024, which would have required sellers and landlords of residential buildings to disclose asbestos dangers to potential purchasers or renters.
Bills introduced: 36, 0 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 0
Earmarks requested: $14,460,197 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 1.24
Social media reach: 2,319,447
Waters introduced H.R. 7462 nearly a year before the wildfires in L.A. County broke out in January. The bill would have required the Government Accountability Office to conduct a study on insurance coverage for wildfire-related damages, including assessing the risk of wildfires in the U.S. and the state of the insurance market. She reintroduced the bill in January, about a week after the L.A.-area wildfires began.
Waters also sponsored H.R. 4233, the Housing Crisis Response Act, aimed at developing fair and affordable housing and decreasing housing costs.
Bills introduced: 31, 1 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 6
Earmarks requested: $263,867,346 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 0.47
Social media reach: 1,873,639
Feinstein got one bill signed into law in her final year: S. 2443, which appropriated funds for energy and water development and related federal agencies for the fiscal year ending Sept. 30.
Bills introduced: 19, 1 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 3
Earmarks requested: No earmarks in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 0.16
Social media reach: 64,820
Butler’s lone bill signed into law was S. 4243, which posthumously awarded the Congressional Gold Medal to Shirley Chisholm. In 1968, Chisolm became the first Black woman to be elected to Congress. In 1972, she became the first Black politician to attempt to become the Democratic Party’s presidential candidate.
Bills introduced: 91, 7 of which became law
Resolutions introduced: 14
Earmarks requested: $312,172,708 in the 2024 omnibus spending bill
Legislative effectiveness score: 2.875
Social media reach: 290,268
The bills Padilla got signed into law included S. 3857, the Jamul Indian Village Land Transfer Act, which put land into trust for San Diego County’s Jamul Indian Village of California, a federally recognized tribe.
He also introduced S. 4077, which named a San Francisco post office after the late Feinstein, who served as the city’s mayor from 1978 through 1988.
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