Rep. Karen Bass
Former Representative for California’s 37th District
pronounced KAIR-un // bass
Bass was the representative for California’s 37th congressional district and was a Democrat. She served from 2013 to 2022.
She was previously the representative for California’s 33rd congressional district as a Democrat from 2011 to 2012.
![Photo of Rep. Karen Bass [D-CA37, 2013-2022]](/static/legislator-photos/412404-200px.jpeg)
Analysis
Legislative Metrics
Read our 2022 Report Card for Bass.
Ideology–Leadership Chart
Bass is shown as a purple triangle ▲ in our ideology-leadership chart below. Each dot was a member of the House of Representatives in 2022 positioned according to our ideology score (left to right) and our leadership score (leaders are toward the top).
The chart is based on the bills legislators sponsored and cosponsored from Jan 3, 2017 to Dec 27, 2022. See full analysis methodology.
Enacted Legislation
Bass was the primary sponsor of 5 bills that were enacted:
- H.R. 8684 (117th): To extend by 19 days the authorization for the special assessment for the Domestic Trafficking Victims’ Fund.
- H.R. 8637 (117th): Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act of 2022
- H.R. 1496 (115th): To designate the facility of the United States Postal Service located at 3585 South Vermont Avenue in Los Angeles, California, as the “Marvin Gaye Post Office”.
- H.R. 6472 (115th): Zimbabwe Democracy and Economic Recovery Amendment Act of 2018
- H.R. 4998 (115th): Health Insurance for Former Foster Youth Act
Does 5 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
Bass sponsored bills primarily in these issue areas:
International Affairs (28%) Crime and Law Enforcement (21%) Families (21%) Health (12%) Education (5%) Social Welfare (5%) Immigration (4%) Commerce (4%)
Recently Introduced Bills
Bass recently introduced the following legislation:
- H.R. 9431 (117th): Second Look Act of 2022
- H.R. 9364 (117th): Strengthening the AfCFTA Act of 2022
- H.Res. 1384 (117th): Expressing support for the designation of September 2022 as “National Kinship Care …
- H.Res. 1342 (117th): Reaffirming the importance of diplomacy and development in United States-African Union relations, …
- H.R. 8684 (117th): To extend by 19 days the authorization for the special assessment for …
- H.R. 8637 (117th): Law Enforcement De-Escalation Training Act of 2022
- H.R. 8349 (117th): Children’s Safe Welcome Act of 2022
View All » | View Cosponsors »
Most legislation has no activity after being introduced.
Voting Record
Key Votes
Missed Votes
From Jan 2011 to Dec 2022, Bass missed 566 of 7,265 roll call votes, which is 7.8%. This is much worse than the median of 2.0% among the lifetime records of representatives serving in Dec 2022. The chart below reports missed votes over time.
We don’t track why legislators miss votes, but it’s often due to medical absenses, major life events, and running for higher office.
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
