Candidate for
State Board of Equalization; District 4

Since her election to the California State Assembly, Dr. Judy Chu has served as the chair of key committees vested with the responsibility to oversee the state's finances. From 2002 to 2003, she served as the chair of the Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services. From 2004 to 2006, she has served as the chair of the Appropriations Committee that oversees every piece of legislation that has a financial impact on the state. She is the only candidate for the Board that has served as a member of the Revenue and Taxation Committee that exclusively deliberates on state tax policy.

She has authored 11 tax reform bills, but her most important achievement was saving healthcare programs for the indigent, disabled, and elderly and funding for schools by introducing and passing the state's first tax amnesty law in 20 years. Her tax amnesty bill, AB 2203, was incorporated into the state budget bill and used to close the $15 billion deficit gap in the 2004-05 Fiscal Year. The amnesty program was estimated to bring in $300 million, but ultimately collected over $4 billion.

As an Assembly member, Judy Chu has fought to protect working families, end discrimination, save healthcare, protect the environment, protect women, protect consumers and improve education.

Assembly Member Judy Chu has been a lifelong member of the American Federation of Teachers and is the daughter of proud immigrants who were members of organized labor. She understands the need to ensure a fair workplace and a living wage. She has also worked hard to support the needs and rights of health workers at local hospitals. She has authored numerous bills that provide greater protections for workers on behalf of UFW, SEIU and CWA. As a member of the Assembly Budget Committee, she fought for fair state budgets that protect critical health, education and public safety programs. In the community, Judy Chu has helped workers organize and supported their efforts to negotiate fair labor contracts. She has earned a California Labor Federation Legislative Report Card 100% lifetime rating for supporting working families.

Assembly Member Chu also chairs the Assembly Select Committee on Hate Crimes and has authored a historic number of bills that protect all communities from the scourge of bigotry and hate crimes. She has carried bills on behalf of the Anti-Defamation League, Muslim community, the NAACP, the LGBT community, and the Asian Pacific Islander American community. She has convened hearings throughout the state to educate the community about resources to fight hate crimes and to draw attention to hate crimes that were being ignored by local agencies.

In the short period of time as a member of the State Assembly, Judy Chu introduced and passed into law numerous bills to protect women from domestic violence and sexual assault, fought for programs that reform the foster care system, and provided new programs that serve senior citizens. She has passed legislation improving campus safety for women and expanded rights for victims of sexual assault. She has also earned a Children's Advocacy Institute Legislative Report Card 100% grade for supporting children's issues and a Congress of California Seniors' Legislative Report Card 100% rating for supporting senior issues.

As a community college professor for over two decades, Judy Chu has made education one of her top priorities as a legislator. She has passed legislation that improves the ability of community colleges to hire faculty for the winter intersession, thus giving greater options for student seeking to take classes at alternative times. She has also passed legislation to increase the ability of school districts to apply for modernization funding and fought to preserve education funding in the State Budget.

Assembly Member Chu authored landmark legislation that helps low-income and minority communities combat the effects of pollution by creating the California Environmental Justice Small Grant Program. In addition, she authored the Toxics in Packaging Prevention Act, which would ban the sale of any package that includes a specified heavy metal that was intentionally introduced during manufacturing or distribution, and would decrease the incidental concentration of these metals over a three-year period. Most recently, she has led the effort to ban potentially toxic chemicals in personal care products and the use of highly toxic pesticides in classrooms. Her work earned her a California League of Conservation Voters Scorecard 100% rating for pro-environment votes.

Assembly Member Chu also authored bills that improved the ability for Medi-Cal patients to stay at the community clinic of their choice, increased educational standards for individuals practicing acupuncture in the state of California, and improved quality and continuity of care, increased patient choice, and better access to enabling services for enrollees in the Healthy Families Program. As a clinical psychologist, Assembly Member Chu passed legislation that improved mental health care by establishing new policies to facilitate the timely release of temporarily committed mental patients who have recovered from their illness. She was selected Legislator of the Year by the California Primary Care Association and the California Children's Specialty Care Coalition.

Lastly, Assembly Member Chu successfully authored legislation to protect non-English speaking immigrants from unscrupulous businesses that prey on their inability to communicate effectively in English and to reform the immigration consulting business. She also carried legislation that would have established a 211 service line to improve access to health and social services programs for underserved communities.