Tech Law Journal Congressional Scorecard 1998

Introduction and Summary

(January 5, 1999)  Tech Law Journal rated all 435 members of the House of Representatives and all 100 Senators on the basis of their support for high tech. The rating is a 0 to 100 scale, with 100 reflected a perfect score. See, the House Scorecard 1998 and the Senate Scorecard 1998.

The criteria used to rate the legislators were support for encryption legislation (based on co-sponsorship of encryption bills), support for the Internet Tax Freedom Act (roll call vote in the Senate, co-sponsorship of the bill in the House), support for increasing the number of H1B visas for high tech professionals (roll call votes), support for relief for high tech companies from class action securities suits (roll call votes), and membership in the Internet Caucus. See, Selection of Criteria for the Scorecard, and Notes on Methods.

In addition to rating all Representatives and Senators, Tech Law Journal produced its own list of the Top Ten Representatives and the Top Ten Senators. This ranking was based on the Scorecard ratings, as well as the leadership demonstrated in pursuing issues that are important to high tech. The top ten are as follows.

Tech Law Journal also analyzed the Scorecard ratings, and made the following findings:

• Region of the country is important. Legislators from the West (both the west coast and mountain states) and New England tend to have higher than average scores. Legislators from "rust belt" states tend to have lower than average scores. The legislators from the South and Plains states tend to be about average.  (Full Story.)
• Political party is important. The average score for Republicans is higher than for Democrats in both the House and Senate. (Full Story.)
• Race is significant. Black Representatives have a lower average score than non-black Representatives. (Full Story.)
• Gender is not a good predictor of support for high tech. The average scores for men and women are almost identical in both the House and Senate. However, Democratic women have a higher average score than Democratic men, both in the House and in the Senate. (Full Story.)
• Age and time in office matter. Younger Representatives and Senators tend to have higher scores than their older and more senior colleagues. (Full Story.)
• Inner city and suburbs. Support for high tech issues is low among inner city Representatives, and high among the suburban Representatives. (Full Story.)
• Rural and small town America. There is no overall trend in rural and small town America. Yet, many of the strongest supporters of the high tech agenda represent rural areas. Conversely, some of the leading opponents of the high tech agenda represent rural areas. (Full Story.)
• Legislators from areas with lots of high tech industry tend to have very high scores.