Legislative Champions of the IFAN Act of 2017

Eduardo Garcia represents California’s 56th Assembly District, which includes cities and unincorporated communities in eastern Riverside County and Imperial County, including Blythe, Brawley, Bermuda Dunes, Calexico, Calipatria, Cathedral City, Coachella, Desert Hot Springs, El Centro, Holtville, Imperial, Indio, Mecca, Oasis, North Shore, Salton Sea, Thermal, Thousand Palms, and Westmorland. Elected in 2014, Garcia is the current chair of Water, Parks and Wildlife. In this capacity, he oversees some of the state’s most pressing issues, such as drought conditions, and the implementation of the multi-billion dollar Proposition 1, Water Bond passed by voters in 2014. Garcia also serves on the Assembly Committees on Appropriations, Communications and Conveyance, Governmental Organization and Utilities and Energy.to an emerging economic and cultural center of the Coachella Valley.

In November 2016, Cecilia Aguiar-Curry was elected to the California Assembly to represent the 4th District that includes all or parts of Napa, Lake, Yolo, Sonoma, Colusa and Solano counties. Aguiar-Curry grew up in western Yolo County and has long served her community; while serving as mayor of Winters, she oversaw improvements in the downtown area and worked to improve local schools, including securing computers for every sixth grader in the city. She also brought broadband internet to rural communities, built senior housing and helped the area to become an agricultural and food innovation hub for the region. With the understanding that employment is central to any successful community, Aguiar-Curry helped bring a PG& E training facility to Winters that provided hundreds of jobs for local residents.

Anna Caballero was elected in November 2016 to the California State Assembly to represent the 30th Assembly District, which includes the Salinas Valley and Big Sur, San Benito County, Watsonville, Gilroy, and Morgan Hill. Caballero has a 30 year legacy of public service in her community. She became the first female Mayor of Salinas in 1998, and as Mayor she raised over $80,000 in private funds to fund city libraries, and she put a measure on the ballot to raise money for essential services during a state budget crisis. Caballero was first elected to the State Assembly in 2006, where she continued to focus on meeting the needs of local residents. She made it easier for farmers to utilize their land to build farmworker housing, gave local governments more time to commit redevelopment dollars to rehabilitate affordable housing units in their communities, and created a parks grant incentive for park poor communities who build affordable housing. An advocate for education, she also voted to extend state student aid to undocumented students applying for citizenship. She showed solidarity with other government workers whose salary was cut due to the budget, by taking a 10% pay-cut in her Assembly salary. From 2010 to 2016, Anna joined Governor Edmund G. Brown’s cabinet as Secretary of the Business, Consumer Services and Housing Agency. Under her leadership, 65 million dollars were allocated to build housing and provide services for homeless veterans, provide struggling families access to home refinancing assistance, and establish new funding criteria for affordable housing and sustainable communities.

In November 2014, David Chiu was elected to the California State Legislature, the first Asian American to represent the 17th Assembly District, which encompasses eastern San Francisco. During David’s first year, he served as Assistant Speaker pro Tempore; in his second year, he serves as Chair of the Assembly Housing & Community Development Committee, and sits on the following legislative committees: Budget, Judiciary, Local Government, and Health. In 2015, Governor Jerry Brown signed 11 bills that David authored in his freshman year. Before joining the State Assembly, David served as President of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors for six years. With a reputation as a consensus maker, he was the first Board President in San Francisco history elected by fellow Supervisors to three consecutive terms, and the first Asian American to hold the post.

Dr. Susan Talamantes Eggman was elected in November 2012, and re-elected in 2014, to represent the 13th Assembly District, which draws together the San Joaquin Delta communities of Stockton, Tracy, Thornton and Mountain House, and western San Joaquin County. Getting San Joaquin residents back to work is one of Eggman’s top priorities. As a councilmember, she fought to preserve small businesses by banning future big box stores because they hurt local small businesses and damage local economies. She also joined with community leaders to successfully lobby the Veterans Administration to build their new facility in San Joaquin County. Eggman is the first Latina to serve on the Stockton City Council. She currently serves on the Assembly Committees for Utilities and Energy, Natural Resources, Business and Professions, and Appropriations.

Assemblymember Mike A. Gipson was elected in November 2014 to represent California’s 64th Assembly District that includes the communities of Carson, Compton, Gardena, Harbor Gateway, Lynwood, North Long Beach, Rancho Dominguez, South Los Angeles, Torrance, Watts/Willowbrook, and Wilmington. Prior to being elected to the California Assembly, Mike A. Gipson served as a Mayor Pro Tem and Councilmember to the City of Carson from 2005 through 2014. During his first year in the Assembly, he was appointed Chair of the Joint Legislative Audit Committee (JLAC), and has since been appointed to the Assembly Committees on: Aging and Long-Term Care, Governmental Organization, Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy, and Revenue and Taxation. In addition, Mr. Gipson served as Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Infectious Diseases in High Risk Disadvantaged Communities, and on the Select Committee on Boys and Men of Color. In 2017, he was appointed to serve as Assembly Democratic Caucus Chair to help lead the supermajority in the Assembly. Responsibilities include driving the legislative decision making process for the Democratic Caucus as well as holding weekly meetings to discuss and set the caucus’ priorities.

Assemblymember Chris Holden Assemblymember Chris Holden brings to the legislature a lifetime of experience in public service and business garnered during his many years on the Pasadena City Council and the Burbank-Glendale-Pasadena Airport Authority. He was first elected to the California State Assembly in 2012, and was overwhelmingly re-elected in 2014 and 2016 from a district that stretches from Pasadena in the West to Upland in the East and includes the communities of Altadena, Claremont, La Verne, Monrovia, Rancho Cucamonga, San Dimas, Sierra Madre, and South Pasadena. Last year, several of Assemblymember Holden’s bills were signed by Governor Jerry Brown, including a bill that increases affordable housing options for foster youth, disabled veterans, or formerly homeless individuals. Another bill that provides additional financial support for relative caregivers of foster youth was adopted into our state budget and implemented immediately. Holden currently chairs the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Energy. Additional committee assignments include Business & Professions, Communications and Conveyance, Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials, and Judiciary. He is Chair of the Select Committee on Regional Transportation and Interconnectivity Solutions and sits on the Advisory Committee of the Santa Monica Mountains Conservancy. He also serves on the Select Committee on Science, Technology, Engineering and Math Education and is an Alliance member of the Select Committee on the Status of Boys & Men of Color. In 2016, he was elected Chair of the California Legislative Black Caucus.

Assemblymember Reginald Jones-Sawyerv, Sr. was elected to the State Legislature in November 2012 and re-elected in 2014. He represents District 59, encompassing the neighborhoods of South Los Angeles, Florence-Firestone, Walnut Park, and a portion of Huntington Park. Jones-Sawyer has authored or co-authored a wide variety of progressive legislation such as: AB 672, which provides re-entry assistance for persons that have been wrongfully convicted and consequently released from state prison; AB 266, which provides proper regulatory oversight of the cultivation, manufacture, transportation, storage distribution, and sale of medical marijuana; and AB 1012, which prohibits school districts from assigning any student to a course period without educational content. He is Chair of the Public Safety Committee and serves on the following standing committees: Higher Education Committee, Government Organization Committee, and the Agriculture Committee. He is Chair of the Select Committee on Urban Planning and Land Use in Underserved Communities, and Co-Chair of the Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color.

Assemblymember Kevin McCarty was elected to the California State Assembly in 2014 to represent the 7th Assembly District, which includes Sacramento, West Sacramento, and parts of unincorporated Sacramento County. McCarty currently serves as Chair of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee on Education Finance, which oversees the largest component of California’s multi-billion dollar annual budget. As Chair during the 2015-16 legislative session, McCarty successfully negotiated annual statewide K-12 education spending of $88.3 billion and $30 billion to support California’s Community College, CSU and UC systems. McCarty also serves on the following policy committees: Education, Health, Labor & Employment and Natural Resources. In 2016, McCarty was unanimously elected Treasurer of the California Legislative Black Caucus.

Assemblymember Jose Medina was first elected to the California State Assembly in 2012; he represents California’s 61st Assembly District, which consists of Riverside, Moreno Valley, Perris, and Mead Valley. In 2017, he began his third term continuing his appointment as Chair of the Assembly Committee on Higher Education. Current and past positions include Chair of the Assembly Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy Committee and the California-Mexico Bi-National Affairs Select Committee. During his first term in the Assembly, Medina led the effort to ensure the University of California, Riverside Medical School received $15 million of full and continuous funding through the state budget, to train students for crucial jobs in the healthcare industry. Medina brings to the legislature a lifetime of experience in education from his many years as a teacher with the Riverside Unified School District, also serving as a member of the Riverside City Teachers Association, and a representative to the state council of the California Teachers Association.

Assemblymember Kevin Mullin was first elected in 2012 and re-elected in 2014 and 2016 to the California State Assembly representing the 22nd District in San Mateo County. Hi is Assembly Speaker pro Tem for the 2016-17 legislative session. Elections reform and strengthening our democracy is Mullin’s top legislative priority. He has authored laws reforming the recount process for statewide elections, ensuring legitimate votes are counted by enhancing vote-by-mail ballot signature verification, and enabling San Mateo County to be the first county in the San Francisco Bay Area to conduct a regularly scheduled off-year election entirely by mail. He was also a co-author of the landmark law automatically registering Californians to vote.

Assemblymember Elois Gómez Reyes was elected to the California State Assembly in November 2016 to represent California’s 47th Assembly District, which includes the communities of Colton, Fontana, Grand Terrace, Rialto, San Bernardino, and the unincorporated communities of Bloomington and Muscoy. Working alongside Legal Aid, she helped provide free legal services and represented the residents of the Inland Empire. The lack of access to quality legal services in her community led her to become the first Latina to open her own law firm in the Inland Empire. Among her accomplishments, Reyes succeeded in representing the residents of Colton in their effort to prevent the development of a hazardous waste dump in their community. For her excellence in the community work, she was a recipient of the Wiley Pro Bono Award from the California State Bar (1988–2015), and was recognized as Attorney of the Year from the Inland Empire Latino Lawyers Association.

Assemblymember Blanca Rubio was elected in November 2016 to represent California’s 48th Assembly District, which includes the cities of Azusa, Baldwin Park, Bradbury, City of Industry, Covina, Duarte, El Monte, Glendora, Irwindale, Monrovia, West Covina, and the San Gabriel Valley unincorporated areas of Los Angeles County, including Bassett, Charter Oak, Citrus, East Arcadia, Ramona, Valinda, and West La Puente. Rubio was born in Juarez, Mexico, and came to the United States with her parents at a young age for an opportunity to achieve a better quality of life. Her perseverance and determination enabled her to become a classroom teacher and local school board member. In 1997, she continued to break barriers by becoming the youngest person elected to the Valley County Water District. During her time in office at the Baldwin Park Unified School District Board of Education, the graduation rate for seniors in high school reached 96%, a record high, along with improved test scores.

Assemblymember Jim Wood was elected in November 2014 to represent California’s 2nd Assembly District, which comprises all of Del Norte, Trinity, Humboldt, and Mendocino counties, plus northern and coastal Sonoma County, including the northern half of Santa Rosa. Wood has lived in Northern California since 1987, when he opened his family dental practice in Cloverdale. He was elected to the Healdsburg City Council in 2006 and served two terms as Mayor. In his first year in the Assembly, Wood authored 9 bills that were signed into law, including the Marijuana Watershed Protection Act (AB 243), which serves as the environmental cornerstone in California’s Medical Marijuana Regulation and Safety Act.

Assemblymember Rob Bonta was elected to the California State Assembly’s 18th District in 2012, where he represents the cities of Oakland, Alameda, and San Leandro as the first and only Filipino American legislator in the 165-year history of California. Growing up in a trailer just a few hundred yards from César Chávez’s home, Bonta watched closely as his parents organized Filipino and Mexican American farm workers, infusing his formative years with first-hand experience of one of the greatest peaceful social, racial, and economic justice movements of all time. He worked his way through college cleaning laundry rooms and, with the help of financial aid, was able to obtain his Juris Doctorate from Yale Law School. His legal career included work as a Deputy City Attorney for the City and County of San Francisco, where he represented the City and County and its employees, and as a private attorney, where he fought to protect Californians from exploitation and racial profiling. Bonta currently serves as the Assistant Majority Leader. He serves on the Appropriations, Communications and Conveyance, Governmental Organization, and Health Committees. He is also chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus and serves on the Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color.

Evan Low was elected to the California State Assembly in November 2014 to represent District 28. At the age of 31, Assemblymember Low became the youngest Asian American legislator to have been elected to the Assembly in state history. The district is located in Silicon Valley and includes Campbell, Cupertino, Los Gatos, Monte Sereno, Saratoga, and the areas of West San Jose, Willow Glen, Cambrian, and Almaden Valley in San Jose. In 2015, with Assemblymember Ian Calderon (D-Whittier), he launched the California Legislative Technology & Innovation Caucus, which is comprised of a bi-partisan group of Senators and Assemblymembers who seek to ensure that California remains the global leader in technology and innovation. Assemblymember Low is a lifelong resident of Silicon Valley and made history as the first Asian American elected to Campbell’s City Council.

Assemblymember James Gallagher has represented since 2014 California’s Third Assembly District, which comprises all of Glenn, Sutter, Tehama, and Yuba Counties. Before joining the Assembly, he served on the Sutter County Board of Supervisors for six years. James earned his Bachelor of Arts degree at UC Berkeley before completing an Assembly Fellowship in Sacramento and a law degree at UC Davis, where he graduated at the top of his class. He advocates for small businesses and farmers in his law practice and is a partner in his family’s farming operation.

Assemblymember Brian Dahle has represented since 2012 California’s First Assembly District, which comprises all of Lassen, Modoc, Nevada, Plumas, Shasta, Sierra, and Siskiyou Counties. Before joining the Assembly, Brian served on the Lassen County Board of Supervisors for 16 years. In the legislature, Brian works across party lines for job creation and economic development in the rural North State and throughout California, pushing policies that keep families on their farms, protect water rights and support the business community. In addition to his service in elected office, Brian is a farmer and small business owner.

Assemblymember Jay Obernolte has represented since 2014 California’s 33rd Assembly District, which encompasses a wide expanse of the High Desert, stretching from the eastern fringes of the Los Angeles metropolitan area to the Nevada and Arizona borders. Before joining the Assembly, he served as the Mayor of Big Bear Lake for four years and on the Board of Directors for the Big Bear City Airport. Jay is an entrepreneur, founding his own video game company in 1988. He holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering and applied science from the California Institute of Technology, and a master’s degree in artificial intelligence from UCLA.