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California State Assembly
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The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature. It consists of 80 members, with each member representing at least 465,000 people, members of the assembly are generally referred to using the titles assemblyman, assemblywoman, or assemblymember. The State Assembly convenes at the California State Capitol in Sacramento, in the current session, the Democrats control 55 seats, forming a supermajority of the chamber. The Speaker presides over the State Assembly in the leadership position, controlling the flow of legislation. The Speaker is elected by the majority party caucus, followed by confirmation of the full assembly, other leaders, such as the majority and minority leaders, are elected by their respective party caucuses according to each partys strength in the chamber. The current Speaker is Democrat Anthony Rendon, the majority leader is Democrat Ian Calderon, while the minority leader is Republican Chad Mayes. The chambers green tones are based on the House of Commons of the United Kingdom, the dais rests along a wall shaped like an E, with its central projection housing the rostrum. Along the cornice appears a portrait of Abraham Lincoln and a Latin quotation, almost every decorating element is identical to the Senate Chamber. According to Article 4, Section 2 of the California Constitution, the Chief Clerk, the Sergeant-at-Arms, and the Chaplain are not members of the Legislature. The Sergeant-at-Arms protects the members of the California State Assembly and this position has existed since December 15,1849, when Samuel N. Houston became the Assemblys first Sergeant-at-Arms. The Chief Clerk, the acting Chief Sergeant-at-Arms, and the Chaplains are not members of the Legislature
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California's 58th State Assembly district
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Californias 58th State Assembly district is one of 80 California State Assembly districts. It is currently represented by Democrat Cristina Garcia of Bell Gardens, the district encompasses a portion of the Gateway Cities region and roughly follows Interstate 605 from Pico Rivera in the north to Cerritos in the south. The district is primarily suburban and heavily Latino, due to redistricting, the 58th district has been moved around different parts of the state. The current iteration resulted from the 2011 redistricting by the California Citizens Redistricting Commission, California State Assembly California State Assembly districts Districts in California District map from the California Citizens Redistricting Commission
3.
Ronald S. Calderon
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Ronald Steven Calderon is a former Democratic California State Senator from the 30th Senate District. He was elected to the Senate in 2006, Calderon attended Montebello High School, graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. He then graduated from the Western State University of Law, Calderon served as a manager in the manufacturing industry, a mortgage banker, and a real estate agent. Senator Ronald Calderon is the second of his family to serve in the senate, prior to Ronalds election his brothers Charles and Thomas also served in the state assembly. After redistricting, Tom Calderon, his brother, decided to run for California Insurance Commissioner in 2002, ron decided to run for the seat vacated by Tom and won the Democratic primary with 46% of the vote. He won the election with 63% of the vote. In 2004, he won re-election with 62% of the vote, in 2006, he retired to run for the California State Senate. He served as Chairman of the Assembly Banking and Finance Committee and he was also elected Assistant Majority Leader. In 2006, incumbent Democrat State Senator Martha Escutia decided to retire, in the Democratic primary, Calderon defeated fellow State Representative Rudy Bermúdez 50. 4%-49. 7%, a difference of just 305 votes. He won the election with 71% of the vote. In 2010, he won re-election with 69% of the vote, Calderon is chairman of the Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments Committee. Senate President Don Perata selected Calderon to lead efforts to reform term-limits and redistricting laws. Calderon also chairs the Select Committee on International Business Trade, in addition to sitting on the Appropriations and Energy, Utilities, Calderon also sits on the California Film Commission, which is tasked with promoting and subsidizing the California film industry. Calderons State Senate district represented around 70% of the redrawn thirty-eighth, Calderon quickly withdrew from the race in January 2012. On June 4,2013, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided Calderons offices in the California State Capitol in an attempt to find evidence regarding accusations of criminal activity. On the same day, the FBI also raided the office of Californias Latino Legislative Caucus of which Calderon is vice-chair, on October 30,2013, an FBI affidavit was published online by cable news network Al Jazeera America with a claim that State Sen. On November 12,2013, Calderon was suspended from his committee assignments, on February 21,2014 Calderon agreed to surrender to federal authorities on Monday February 24,2014 after being named in a federal grand jury indictment. His trial is scheduled to commence on April 22,2014, Calderon was released on a $50,000 surety bond
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Cristina Garcia (politician)
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Cristina Garcia is an American politician serving in the California State Assembly. She is a Democrat representing the 58th Assembly District, which parts of southeastern Los Angeles County. Garcia is the incumbent Chair of the Legislative Women’s Caucus, and she also serves as a Commissioner on the State Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. She is also a member of the California Latino Legislative Caucus, before being elected to the Assembly in 2012, Garcia helped to form the local advocacy organization Bell Association to Stop the Abuse in response to the City of Bell corruption scandal. Garcia served as Assistant Majority Floor Leader from 2014 to 2016, as a legislator, with suspicions of corruption about the state Capitol, Garcia introduced an ethics and transparency package of bills, the Political Conduct, Ethics and Public Trust Acts of 2014. Governor Jerry Brown signed five of her reform measures into law, AB1673 - Eliminating Influence Peddling, AB1666 - Penalties & Bribes, would double the existing restitution fines amounts and prohibit the use of campaign funds to pay a restitution fine under this section. AB1692 - Personal Use of Campaign Funds, to prevent campaign funds from being used to pay for fines that are the result of abuse of personal use of campaign funds laws. AB1596 - Vote by Mail, require all vote-by-mail applications, AB1596 was Assemblymember Garcia’s “There Ought to be a Law” contest winner in 2014. AB2040 - Detailed Disclosure of Government Compensation, requires salary details to be disclosed on the local government websites. Garcia also advocates on issues concerning Women and Children, Garcia launched her Young Legislator’s program in 2014 to mentor high school students in her district to become legislators. Members are given hands-on experience, working within their communities, as they participate in events hosted by Garcia’s district office. She introduced AB256, on Cyber-Bullying, which became law in 2013, Garcia lives in the Southeast Los Angeles community of Bell Gardens, where she was raised and attended public schools. She went on to earn a degree from Pomona College, a masters degree
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Toni Atkins
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Toni G. Atkins is an American Democratic politician from San Diego, California. She was the Speaker of the California State Assembly and is currently a member of the California State Senate representing the 39th district. In January 2014 she was elected by the Democratic caucus to be the next Speaker of the Assembly and she was the third woman and the first acknowledged lesbian to be elected to that position. She was the first lawmaker from San Diego to be elected Speaker and she formerly served on the San Diego City Council from 2000 to 2008, including a term as Acting Mayor. She served as the governor of California for nine hours on July 30,2014. She was born in poverty in Wythe County in southwest Virginia and her father was a miner and her mother a seamstress, she grew up in a home with no running water. She earned a BA in political science from Emory and Henry College and she later attended the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. Atkins relocated to San Diego in 1985, when she first came to San Diego, she joined the staff of Womancare Health Center as Director of Clinic Services. She then served for a number of years as council representative, when Kehoe was elected to the state legislature, Atkins was elected to Kehoes City Council seat on November 7,2000. She was reelected in March 2004, without the need for a November runoff, in April 2005 Mayor Dick Murphy resigned after criticism of his handing of the citys fiscal problems. Councilmember Michael Zucchet, who was deputy mayor, took over, in an emergency vote on July 19, Atkins was chosen by the other five council members to take over as mayor pro-tem for one week. On July 25 they reaffirmed their choice and designated Atkins deputy mayor to serve until Jerry Sanders was sworn in as mayor on December 5, Atkins was the first openly lesbian mayor of San Diego. While on the council, she represented the City of San Diego at the San Diego Chapter of the League of Cities as well as on the board and she continues to serve on the San Diego River Conservancy as an appointee of former California State Assembly Speaker Herb Wesson. She lists among her priorities affordable housing, workers rights, neighborhood revitalization and she was elected to the State Assembly in November 2010, receiving 57. 7% of the vote. She represented the 76th Assembly district, in November 2012 she ran in the 78th Assembly district due to redistricting, and won with 62% of the vote. In 2012 she introduced AB1522, a bill to prevent the granting of financial support, the bill was inspired by the case of a San Diego woman who was ordered to pay legal fees and spousal support to her ex-husband even though he was in prison for abusing her. She was the first Speaker of the Assembly from San Diego, the first lesbian to hold the position, Atkins was reelected as Speaker by the Democratic caucus in November 2014. As Speaker she helped to write and secure passage for a $7. 5-billion water bond that was approved by the legislature, Atkins stepped down as Assembly speaker in March 2016
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California State Senate
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The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature. The legislative body consists of 40 members, with each member representing approximately 931,000 people, due to the states large population and relatively small legislature, the State Senate has the largest population per representative ratio of any state legislative house. Each member roughly represents a population equivalent to the state of Delaware, the State Senate convenes at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. In the current session, Democrats control 27 seats, comprising a two-thirds supermajority of the chamber, prior to 1968, state senate districts were drawn so that each county had at most one state senator. This led to the situation of a populous county such as Los Angeles County being accorded the same number of senators as less populous counties such as Humboldt County. In Reynolds v. Sims, the United States Supreme Court compelled all states to draw up districts with equal population, as such, boundaries were changed to provide more equitable representation. The Lieutenant Governor is the ex officio President of the Senate, the President pro tempore is elected by the majority party caucus, followed by confirmation of the full senate. Other leaders, such as the majority and minority leaders, are elected by their party caucuses according to each partys strength in the chamber. The current president pro tem is Democrat Kevin de León, the minority leader is Republican Jean Fuller. The red tones of the California State Senate Chamber are based on the British House of Lords, the dais rests along a wall shaped like an E, with its central projection housing the rostrum. Along the cornice appears a portrait of George Washington and the Latin quotation, almost every decorating element is identical to the Assembly Chamber. The Secretary, the Sergeant-at-Arms, and the Chaplain are not members of the Legislature
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California's 30th State Senate district
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Californias 30th State Senate district is one of 40 California State Senate districts. It is currently represented by Democrat Holly Mitchell of Los Angeles, the district includes 9. 4% of Los Angeles County. Places in the district include Culver City, Ladera Heights, and Westmont and the Crenshaw, Downtown, California State Senate California State Senate districts Districts in California District map from the California Citizens Redistricting Commission
