Former member of Congress · last served 101st Congress
Jim Bates
Jim Bates was a Democratic U.S. representative from California, first elected to Congress in 1983, who sponsored 4 bills that became law (100th–101st Congress).
How we count: “Broke with party” is a yes/no roll call where the member voted against most of their own party on that vote (party as recorded; even splits not counted). “Pork: own share” splits each earmark shared by several members evenly among them.
Recent votes
No recorded roll-call votes in PORKER’s records. Roll-call records start in 2011.
5 most recent bills
- H.R. 1602 Trauma Care Systems Planning and Development Act of 1990Nov 16, 1990 · Became Public Law No: 101-590.
- H.R. 436 Trauma Care Systems Planning and Development Act of 1989Nov 16, 1990 · For Further Action See H.R.1602.
- H.R. 2863 For the relief of Michael Wu.Oct 23, 1990 · Referred to Subcommittee on Immigration and Refugee Affairs.
- H.R. 5709 Access to Professional Sports Programming ActOct 8, 1990 · Referred to the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance.
- H.R. 5694 Access to Professional Sports Programming ActOct 8, 1990 · Referred to the Subcommittee on Telecommunications and Finance.
Top bills sponsored
- H.J.Res. 291 (101st) Designating November 16, 1989, as "Interstitial Cystitis Awareness Day".Became law
- H.J.Res. 380 (101st) Designating October 4, 1989, as "Patient Account Management Day".Became law
- H.J.Res. 347 (100th) A joint resolution recognizing the identical plaques initiated by Sami Bandak, created by Margareta Hennix and Ginvanni Bizzini, and depicting the Calmare…Became law
- H.R. 3133 (100th) Trauma Care Systems Planning and Development Act of 1988Passed a chamber
- H.Con.Res. 150 (101st) Authorizing the printing of a collection of statements in tribute to the late Representative Claude Denson Pepper.Passed a chamber
- H.Res. 92 (101st) Authorizing the printing of the committee print entitled "Report of the Task Force on Foreign Assistance" as a House document.Passed a chamber
- H.Res. 532 (100th) A resolution to express a sense of outrage toward Iraq for its usage of poison gas toward the Kurdish minority.219 cosponsors
- H.R. 2699 (101st) Stratospheric Ozone Protection Act of 1989159 cosponsors
Laws first, then bills that passed a chamber, were reported from committee, or drew the most cosponsors.
Elections Rep. Bates has won
Rep. Bates has won 4 U.S. House elections (1982–1988). Of the contested races, margins ran from 23.2 to 41.7 points.
Full election history for this seat →
Source: MIT Election Data and Science Lab, U.S. House V15 / U.S. Senate V8 (CC0), retrieved 2026-10-18; winners matched to member records by seat and term. Results run through the 2024 elections; nothing from 2026 is shown until it is certified. A margin is a fact about one election, never a score of how well a member represents anyone, and PORKER does not rank members by it.
Official records on bills this member sponsored
101st Congress. What Congress.gov lists for the 27 bills sponsored.
| Record | Bills | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Bills sponsored | 27 | Source: Congress.gov member record, PORKER copy of October 26, 2026 ↗ See them → |
| With a sponsor’s constitutional-authority statement | 0 | None listed |
| With a CBO cost estimate listed | 0 | None listed |
| With a committee report listed | 0 | None listed |
Evidence
- How counted
- Bills where this member is the lead (first-listed) sponsor in the 101st Congress, read from the stored Congress.gov bill records
- Fields
- cboCostEstimates, committeeReports, constitutionalAuthorityStatementText, notes
- PORKER copy refreshed
- October 26, 2026 (nightly)
Read this first. These are counts of records Congress.gov lists. Many bills never get a CBO estimate or a report, so a zero is not a mark against a member. We never show this as a score.
Data as of Oct 26, 2026 · Sources: Congress.gov, Senate.gov, House Clerk, Appropriations Committee earmark tables. PORKER is non-partisan.