Talk:Anthony Rendon (politician)

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Anthony Rendon
(born March 4, 1968) is an American politician who served as the 70th speaker of the California State Assembly from 2016 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the second longest-serving speaker in California history (and the longest-serving speaker to serve his first term after the adoption of California's term limits). Since 2022, he has represented the 62nd district, located in the southeastern part of Los Angeles County, including the cities of South Gate, Lynwood, and Paramount. He previously represented the 63rd district from 2012 to 2022.

In 2023, Politico reported that Rendon’s speakership was “one of California’s most consequential speakerships”, and that he “has presided over a progressive policy bonanza”, as California “hiked the minimum wage, gave farmworkers overtime, enacted ambitious climate laws, expanded early childhood education, and delivered landmark labor wins”.

In 2023, Spectrum News described Rendon as “one of the state’s most powerful Democrats”, adding that he “created a more democratic environment” in the Assembly by putting “people in positions of power that reflected the Californians who elected them into office.”
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Early life and career
Rendon was born on March 4, 1968[1] in Silver Lake,[2] a neighborhood in central Los Angeles. His grandparents immigrated from Mexico to the United States during the 1920s.[3] He grew up in a working class family that frequently moved around the Los Angeles area.[2] His father, Tom Rendon,[4] worked multiple jobs, including for a mobile home company, and his mother, Gloria Rendon,[4] was a teacher's aide at a Catholic school.[5]

Rendon attended California High School, Whittier, graduating in 1986.[5] He has stated that he was a "terrible student."[6] At the age of 20, he enrolled in and attended Cerritos College, a community college in Norwalk, California, before earning a bachelor's degree and master's degree from California State University, Fullerton.[7][8] After receiving a National Endowment for the Humanities fellowship,[9] Rendon earned his Ph.D. in political science from the University of California, Riverside,[5] graduating in 2000.[10] He completed post-doctoral work at Boston University.[10]

Prior to becoming a member of the California State Assembly, Rendon was the executive director of Plaza de la Raza Child Development Services, an organization that provides child development and social and medical services throughout Los Angeles County.[11] He was also the interim executive director of the California League of Conservation Voters, a lobbying organization dedicated to environmental issues.[12] He worked with the Mexican American Opportunity Foundation in early childhood education efforts.[13] From 2001 to 2008, he was an adjunct professor in the Department of Political Science and Criminal Justice at California State University, Fullerton.[9]

Political career
During his first term in office, Rendon was chair of the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks, and Wildlife and authored Proposition 1, the $7.5 billion state water bond, which voters approved in the November 2014 election.[14] In developing AB 1471, the legislation that would eventually become Proposition 1, Rendon hosted more than a dozen water bond hearings across the state to gather direct feedback from California residents. The bill passed the Legislature with bipartisan support, passing 77-2 in the Assembly, and 37-0 in the Senate.

In 2013, Rendon authored Assembly Bill 711, a statewide ban on lead hunting ammunition that was signed into law.[15]

In 2015, Rendon was named chair of the Assembly Committee on Utilities and Commerce.[16] Under his chairmanship, the committee focused on accountability and wrongdoing by the California Public Utilities Commission.

In 2015, Governor Brown signed AB 530 by Rendon. This bill authorized the creation of a working group to develop a Lower Los Angeles River revitalization plan. The plan, published in 2018, focused on the needs of the Lower LA River, including the need for a healthier river ecosystem, opportunities for recreation and development, and a toolkit for anti-gentrification efforts. The revitalization plan was adopted into the Los Angeles River Master Plan in 2022. On September 3, 2015, Rendon was selected to be the next Assembly Speaker.[17] The formal vote electing Rendon as Speaker occurred on January 11. The vote was unanimous, with the Republican leader seconding the motion.[18] Rendon brought back the tradition of past California Assembly Speakers of carrying no legislation himself, but focusing on empowering the members of the chamber.[19] Despite this, he has made certain priorities of his known, including wildfire planning, and continuing to address poverty and educational deficits in California.[20]

In 2016, Rendon’s first year as speaker, the legislature passed the nation’s first $15 minimum wage, raised the age of purchasing tobacco to 21, and passed the first bill in the United States to grant overtime pay to farmworkers. The legislature also passed a gun control package, including a ban on the sale of semiautomatic rifles with detachable magazines, legislation to reduce greenhouse gas emissions , and invested $530 million in early childhood education, a key priority of Rendon.

In the 2017 – 2018 legislative session, under Rendon’s leadership, the legislature passed an extension of the cap and trade program, historic legislation to fund California’s roads and public transit systems , a bill to provide legal protections to undocumented immigrants , and legislation to prevent new contracts between local governments and private immigrant detention facilities. Additional legislation passed by the legislature during this session included a bill to require the release of law enforcement body camera video within 45 days of a deadly or serious incident, legislation that required 14 and 15-year-olds to be charged as juveniles , and the nation’s first ban on cash bail.

While Rendon was speaker during the 2019-2020 legislative session, the legislature passed bills to amend law enforcement use-of-force policies, create a reparations task force , limit interest rates on personal loans , and cap rent increases. The legislature also passed landmark legislation that specifically classified contract workers as employees. App-based transportation and delivery companies such as Uber and Lyft were later granted an exemption to AB 5 by the passage of Proposition 22 in November 2020.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, the legislature passed bipartisan legislation to provide up to $1 billion in emergency response funding, as well as provide protection against evictions for Californians financially impacted by the pandemic.

During the 2021-22 legislative session, while Rendon was speaker, the legislature passed a constitutional amendment to enshrine access to abortion in the California constitution, an amendment that Rendon co-authored. The legislature also passed a broad climate package, including $54 billion in climate spending and the nation’s strictest anti-plastic legislation. Other bills passed during this session include historic legislation to incentivize the building of affordable housing, and a bill allowing lawsuits against manufacturers of illegal ‘ghost guns’.

On February 19, 2021, The Sacramento Bee reported that nonprofit organizations associated with Rendon's wife, Annie Lam, had received over $500,000 in donations and event sponsorships from over a dozen companies that had business interests at stake with the legislature.[21] In 2023, the Los Angeles Times reported that she received an unusually large income ($600,000 in 2022) from her job as a consultant, much of it from organizations with business before the legislature, and reported that others in government were concerned about ethical considerations.[22] On Thursday, November 10, the California Democratic Caucus voted for Assemblymember Robert Rivas to be the next Speaker of the California State Assembly. Speaker Emeritus Anthony Rendon remained speaker until June 30, 2023.[23]

In 2023, during Rendon’s first year as Speaker Emeritus, he authored legislation to create stricter school building standards by requiring prequalification for all contractors on school projects, which was signed into law. This legislation followed the collapse of Lynwood High School in June 2020 in Lynwood, California. Rendon also authored legislation to require greenhouse gas emissions reporting and cap-and-trade participation for power reserves held by the Department of Water Resources, as well as legislation to require regular posting of CalFresh data usage. Both of these bills were also signed into law. Legislation authored by Rendon proposing to remove prior authorization for naloxone and other opioid antagonists designed to treat substance use disorder was vetoed by Governor Gavin Newsom on October 8, 2023.

Since 2017, Rendon has supported and secured budget funding annually to support the creation of the Southeast Los Angeles Cultural Center, a proposed arts and culture center along the LA River in South Gate, California. The project, which was initially identified in the Lower Los Angeles River Revitalization Plan, has been designed by architect Frank Gehry. The Center’s current design includes 85,000 square feet of visual arts, music programs, a performance hall, and educational facilities.


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The page for Assemblymember Anthony Rendon does not currently include any legislative updates or achievements since 2015. In the nine years since that time, he has managed and overseen the passage of thousands of substantial bills in the California legislature, many of them first-in-the-nation achievements. These are some relevant updates on the last nine years of Assemblymember Rendon's career. I am a staff member in Assemblymember Rendon's office, and I am not experienced in editing Wikipedia. I apologize if I have submitted this request incorrectly, and I appreciate your help and insights in making these changes.


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SacComms916 (talk) 00:44, 11 January 2024 (UTC)