Candidate for
State Senator; District 18

The L.A. Times says I'm "a high-velocity wonk" who "loves big ideas, and will flesh out every one of them if you give him a chance." I call it public service.

My name is Bob Hertzberg. I'm a clean energy entrepreneur, a government reform advocate, a former Assembly Speaker from the Valley, and I'm running to be the next State Senator from the San Fernando Valley.

After I left the State Assembly, I started working on two of the things I cared most about: clean energy and government reform. I co-founded Solar Integrated Technologies, the first L.A.-based company to manufacture lightweight Solar Panels. I became an investor in G Wiz, a European electric car company. I co-founded a green venture capital firm called "Renewable Capital," that was centered around making venture-capital investments in clean energy companies. And I became Chairman of the Board of G24 Innovations, a company that manufactures flexible solar panels that can work in low-light and even ambient conditions. For my work in Green Technology, The Guardian named me one of the "50 People Who Could Save the Planet," which was a list comprised mostly of individuals who were not American. Also, my company, G24 Innovations, was awarded the World Bank's Award for Lighting Africa for a project in Rwanda. I've also worked globally on a wide range of other green technologies and have received many other global awards.

Since I left office more than ten years ago, I have devoted a large amount of my time working on a number of reform measures that now are taking hold in the State. These include Redistricting reform, the Open Primary, a new constitutional amendment reducing the threshold from 2/3 to 50% plus one to pass the State budget, and Term Limits Reform. Much of this was done in my capacity as Co-Chair of California Forward, a foundation funded reform effort. I'm currently working with the Think Long Committee of California on a ballot initiative reform measure for the upcoming 2014 election cycle.

In addition, I've served in a myriad of roles dedicated to reforming our state government and building our Valley Economy. I twice served as Chair of the Los Angeles Economic Development Corporation, I served on the board of governors at the Valley Industry and Commerce Association, and on the board of the Economic Alliance of the San Fernando Valley, in addition to dozens of other nonprofits. I Co-Chaired the effort to give every four-year-old access to preschool, an initiative which will provide new opportunities to over 100,000 children in Los Angeles County. Public policy has never left my interests. I'm currently involved with the USC Price School of Public Policy, Pepperdine School of Public Policy, and the Claremont School of Public Policy.

Speaker of the State Assembly

In what feels like a past life, I represented the San Fernando Valley in the California State Assembly from 1996 to 2002. In 2000, I was unanimously chosen by both political parties to be the 64th Speaker of the California State Assembly + the first Speaker in decades to be elected in such a bipartisan fashion.

During my time as Speaker, I spearheaded the largest investment in U.S. history to build new classrooms and repair older schools, hundreds of millions of dollars of which went to the Valley.

I also increased investment in the state's community colleges, and authored legislation that has provided $475 million in new textbooks and school supplies to date.

Traffic congestion is a serious problem in the Valley. One of my proudest moments in the State Assembly was the creation of the Orange Line. Myself and Supervisor Zev Yaroslavsky went to Curitiba Brazil and saw how their rapid bus system functioned, and realized that it would be a great model for the Valley. I secured $145 million in state funding for the Orange Line, and the rest is history. I additionally secured $10 million to improve the 101/405 interchange - the worst bottleneck in the nation, and brought home $16 million to synchronize traffic lights along Ventura, Victory and Sepulveda boulevards.

Meanwhile, I presided over $1.5 billion in tax relief.

To support local law enforcement in the battle against increasing gang crime, I overcame years of bureaucratic bickering to deliver funding for a regional crime lab which will give Los Angeles police and sheriffs the state-of-the-art tools needed to convict violent offenders.

I also sponsored the legislation creating CLEAR, which former L.A. County D.A. Steve Cooley called "the most successful gang prevention program in history." More than 90% of the CLEAR-related jury trials have resulted in convictions.

I was born in L.A., and I went to the public schools here.

With our state slowly making its way back toward stability, now is the time to focus on solving our long-term problems.

I have learned a lot in my last ten years in the private sector. In some ways I am a better and more qualified candidate now than I was as Speaker. I hope you take a look around my website + what I've written, what I've done, and what I stand for + and I would be honored to have your support.