User:Anupamtree/Jon-Ossoff

Thomas Jonathan Ossoff (born February 16, 1987) is an American investigative film executive, former congressional aide, and Democratic candidate running in the special election to represent Georgia's 6th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives.

Education
Born in Atlanta in 1987, Ossoff grew up in the Northlake area of Georgia. During his undergraduate years at Georgetown University (2005-2009), Ossoff studied under former secretary of state Madeleine Albright, former Israeli ambassador to the United States Michael Oren, and other national security professionals who taught in Georgetown's Walsh School of Foreign Service.

Ossoff went on to earn his Master of Science degree from London School of Economics in 2013, where he wrote his thesis on trade relations between the United States and China.

Assembly
Lieu won a September 13, 2005, special election to fill the 53rd Assembly district following the death of incumbent Mike Gordon. Lieu defeated three Republicans, including businesswoman Mary Jo Ford and fellow Torrance City Councilman Paul Nowatka.

He was reelected in November 2006 and again in November 2008.

Lieu was Chair of the Assembly Rules Committee. He was a member of the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee, Assembly Judiciary Committee and Assembly Veterans Affairs Committee. Lieu was also Chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus and Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Aerospace.

In 2008, in a surprising twist of events in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) English language controversy, Lieu and State Senator Leland Yee of San Francisco were able to help rescind the LPGA Tour Commission’s suspension-penalty policy for players who failed to learn enough English to speak to sponsors and at award ceremonies. Both officials publicly challenged the legality and galvanized community attention to the LPGA’s policy in August 2008 when it was released, which resulted in revision of the policy by the end of 2008.

Lieu is a strong supporter of expansion of public transit in West Los Angeles, LAX, and the South Bay.

Lieu also coauthored a successful bill to bypass environmental quality regulations to build a football stadium in Los Angeles. The bill was intended to help the efforts of developer Edward P. Roski persuade the National Football League to return to the city, and was controversial among many environmentalists and legislators. Further controversy ensued when it was announced that Roski had given over $500,000 to political campaigns, including $13,000 to Lieu's.

Legislation as an assemblyman
As an assemblyman, Lieu authored laws in the areas of public safety, child sex offenders, domestic violence, the environment, education, health care, veterans’ issues and transportation.

Some of his legislative actions include the following:
 * AB 1900 helps prevent convicted child sex offenders from working with children (Chapter 340, Statutes of 2006)
 * ABx2 7, the California Foreclosure Prevention Act, requires lenders to operate a comprehensive home loan modification program or face a 90-day foreclosure moratorium. This is the first law of its kind in the nation (Chapter 5, Statutes of 2009)
 * AB 2052 allows a victim of domestic violence to break a rental lease if the victim provides a police report or temporary restraining order to the landlord (Chapter 440, Statutes of 2008)
 * AB 86 gives school districts the ability to discipline students who engage in cyber-bullying (Chapter 646, Statutes of 2008)
 * AB 800 requires reporting of sewage spills, thereby allowing the local public safety officials to close down beaches and public areas affected by such spills (Chapter 371, Statutes of 2007)
 * AB 236 mandates the state to prioritize the purchase of fleet cars to enhance fuel efficiency and carbon reduction, and requires alternative-fuel-capable vehicles to use alternative fuels (Chapter 593, Statutes of 2007)
 * AB 392 requires employers to give spouses of Armed Forces members returning from deployment two weeks of unpaid leave if requested by the spouse (Chapter 361, Statutes of 2007) and
 * AB 1150 bans health insurance companies from providing financial incentives to their employees for terminating health care coverage of patients (Chapter 188, Statutes of 2008).

Run for Attorney General
Lieu sought the Democratic nomination in the California Attorney General election, 2010. He finished fourth in the June primary, which was won by Kamala Harris.

California Senate
Lieu won a February 15, 2011, special election to fill the 28th Senate district following the death of incumbent Jenny Oropeza. He defeated four Republicans, one Democrat, and two independents.

On January 30, 2014, Senator Lieu voted in favor of California Senate Constitutional Amendment 5. The proposed bill asked California voters to repeal provisions of Proposition 209 and permit state universities to consider an applicant's race, ethnicity or national origin in making admissions decisions. After hearing strong opposition to the bill from Asian-American community, Lieu, along with Senators Leland Yee and Carol Liu, who had also voted for the bill, jointly issued a statement on February 27 calling for the bill to be withheld pending further consultations with the "affected communities."

2014 election
Lieu was the Democratic candidate for the 33rd congressional district, formerly represented by Henry Waxman, who retired in 2014 after 40 years in Congress. Lieu placed second in the June primary, but defeated Republican Elan Carr in the general election. He is only the third person to represent this district since its creation in 1943 (it was the 19th from 1943 to 1975, the 24th from 1975 to 1993, the 29th from 1993 to 2003, the 30th from 2003 to 2013, and has been the 33rd since 2013).

Tenure
Lieu is one of two Taiwanese American members of the 114th United States Congress, along with New York's Grace Meng.

He was voted Democratic Freshman Class President of the House by his colleagues, succeeding Joaquín Castro. Lieu serves on two influential committees in Congress: the House Budget Committee and the House Oversight Committee.

Lieu voted against the Iran deal.

Lieu received praise from the online privacy community when he introduced bipartisan legislation to prevent states from forcing companies to weaken encryption for law enforcement purposes.

On September 16, 2015, Lieu and Justin Amash introduced a bill to reduce funding for the Drug Enforcement Administration's Cannabis Eradication Program, under which real estate and chattels can be seized if they have been used for marijuana trafficking and abuse.

On July 22, it was announced that Lieu would speak at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, along with three other California House Democrats.

Committee assignments

 * Committee on the Budget
 * Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
 * Subcommittee on Information Technology
 * Subcommittee on National Security