Women in California’s Legislature

Ophelia Basgal is currently an affiliate at the Terner Center for Housing Innovation at University of California, Berkeley, and a senior executive consultant for InclusionINC, a diversity and inclusion consulting firm. From May 2010 to March 2016, she was the Region IX Regional Administrator for the Department of Housing Urban Development.  Prior to this position, she was the vice president for community relations at PG&E from 2005–2010, where she managed the company’s $20 million charitable contributions program and oversaw the community engagement programs, partnerships with community-based organizations, and employee volunteerism program for 20,000 employees. She was executive director of the Alameda County and Dublin Housing Authorities from 1978–2005. She is chair of the board of trustees of the San Francisco Foundation and vice-chair of the board of the Alameda County California Employees’ Retirement Association. She is also on the advisory board of the UC Berkeley Goldman School of Public Policy. She joined the PPIC board of directors in 2022 and is a former member of PPIC’s Statewide Leadership Council. She has a BA with Distinction from Arizona State University and an MSW with a specialty in administration from the University of California, Berkeley.

Tani Cantil-Sakauye is president and CEO of the Public Policy Institute of California. From 2011 to 2022, she served as the 28th Chief Justice of California and led the judiciary as the chair of the Judicial Council—the constitutional policy and rule making body of the judicial branch—the first person of color and the second woman to do so. Before she was elected statewide as the Chief Justice of California, she served more than 20 years on California appellate and trial courts and was appointed or elevated to higher office by three governors. Earlier in her career she served as a deputy district attorney for the Sacramento County District Attorney’s Office and on the senior staff of Governor Deukmejian, first as deputy legal affairs secretary and later as a deputy legislative secretary. She holds a BA and a JD from the University of California, Davis.

Tina McKinnor is a California assemblymember representing Assembly District 61, which includes a number of cities and communities in Los Angeles County. She is currently chair of the Public Employment and Retirement Committee and serves on the following policy committees: Business and Professions Committee, Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee, and the Governmental Organization Committee. As a legislator, her priorities include California’s continued COVID-19 recovery, increased funding for public education, expanded universal access to healthcare, the state’s housing and homelessness crisis, and reforming the state’s criminal justice system. Prior to her election to the state assembly, she served as civic engagement director for the nonprofit LAVoice, as operational director for the California Democratic Party, and as chief of staff to several members of the state assembly. She received a BA in accounting from California State University, Dominguez Hills.

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Janet Nguyen represents California’s 36th Senate District. She is a former state senator for the 34th Senate District, former state assemblywoman for the 72nd District, and a former Orange County supervisor. She was the first woman to represent the 72nd Assembly District, the first Vietnamese-American in the country to be elected to serve in both the California State Senate and the California State Assembly, and the highest-ranking Vietnamese-American elected official in California. During her tenure as state senator, she was the highest-ranking Vietnamese-American elected official in California and the highest-ranking Vietnamese-American woman elected official in the United States. She also served on the Garden Grove City Council, where she was the youngest member ever elected. She is a graduate of the University of California, Irvine and the Aspen Institute’s Aspen-Rodel Fellowship Leadership Program.

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Liz Ortega proudly represents District 20, one of the most ethnically diverse districts in the state. It includes Hayward, San Leandro, most of Union City, portions of Dublin and Pleasanton, and several unincorporated communities.” Liz Ortega is a longtime labor leader and activist from an immigrant family who has dedicated her career to fighting for the working-class people of Alameda County.  Her undocumented mother brought three-year-old Liz and her family to California to build a better life. Her family’s struggles shaped the values that guide her work. As Statewide Political Director for AFSCME Local 3299, the University of California’s largest employee union, Liz secured the passage of state legislation to maintain and protect essential service jobs at every UC campus. The first Latina to be elected Executive Secretary-Treasurer of the Alameda Labor Council, Liz has been an East Bay leader in the fight for equitable wages, health care, and safe, secure jobs. Liz, her husband Jason (a former School Board Member), and daughter Yamara live in San Leandro, where Yamara attends local public schools.

Nancy Skinner is California’s state senator for District 9, which includes cities in Alameda and Contra Costa Counties. She was elected to the state senate in 2016 after completing three terms in the state assembly. She currently serves as chair of the senate’s Budget and Fiscal Review Committee and of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus. She has authored groundbreaking laws including SB 206, the Fair Pay to Play Act, making California the first state to give college athletes the right to earn money from their name, image, and likeness; SB 1421, opening up police misconduct records for the first time in 40 years; and SB 1437, overhauling California’s felony murder rule. She began her public service in 1984 as the first and only student elected to the Berkeley City Council. She served on the board of the East Bay Women’s Political Caucus and launched the Women in Power PAC to support Democratic women running for state office. She is a graduate of University of California, Berkeley, earning a BS and an MA in education.

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