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| Affiliation | Democratic |
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| Name | Liz Figueroa |
| Address |
Fremont, California , United States |
| Email | None |
| Website | [Link] |
| Born |
February 09, 1951
(73 years)
|
| Contributor | eddy 9_99 |
| Last Modifed | RBH
Mar 24, 2016 02:32am |
| Tags |
Hispanic - Married - Catholic -
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| Info | Liz Figueroa was elected to the California State Senate as a Democrat from the 10th District (Alameda and Santa Clara Counties) in 1998 and re-elected in 2002. Prior to her election to the State Senate, she served two terms in the California State Assembly from 1994-1998.
In 2005, Senator Figueroa was named chair of a powerful new Senate committee, the Government Modernization, Efficiency, and Accountability Committee (GMEAC), charged with a thorough examination of California Performance Review proposals, and with reforming state government. Her oversight of the GMEAC is complimented by her existing position as chair of the Joint Committee on Boards, Commissions, and Consumer Protection, a committee which has oversight of over 300 state regulatory or administrative boards or commissions. In tandem, these posts have given her the opportunity to bring about real government reform and real increases in efficiency, while maintaining the level of government services essential to all Californians.
Senator Figueroa also serves as the chair of the Senate Committee on Business, Professions and Economic Development; the Senate Select Committee on International Trade Policy and State Legislation and the Senate Select Committee on Technological Crime and the Consumer. She is a member of the Senate Committees on Judiciary, Health, Insurance, Banking & Finance, Environmental Quality, and Labor. While in the Assembly, Figueroa chaired both the Insurance Committee and the Select Committee on Aerospace.
In her first year in the Legislature, Figueroa delivered nine bills to the Governor’s desk – all of which where signed into law – the highest percentage of any freshman legislator ever. Throughout her legislative career, she has consistently carried legislation that reflects her dedication to improving access and the quality of health care, while also protecting citizens and their privacy.
Senator Figueroa worked closely with the White House on landmark legislation, a bill that mirrored her successful law AB 1841, that provides a two-day hospital stay for mothers and their newborn babies. She also co-chaired the conference committee that drafted and successfully implemented California’s Healthy Families program, which provides health insurance for children and the working poor. She clearly is a leader in the high-profile fight to reform managed health care in California. Her legislation (SB 21) giving patients the right to sue their HMO was characterized as the “crown jewel” of the HMO reform package by the former Governor.
The Senator has also established herself as one of the nation’s leaders in protecting consumers’ personal privacy and helping victims of identity theft. Her Medical Records Privacy Act made California the first state in the country to guarantee that a patient’s medical records are confidential and cannot be used by HMOs for any other purpose not directly related to health care. Senator Figueroa’s SB 27 made California the nation’s first state to shed light on the little known multi-billion dollar business of buying and trading customer lists (oftentimes including private personal, medical and financial information) for direct marketing purposes. In addition, she authored two first-in-the-nation measures to help victims of identity theft by allowing Californians to obtain free credit reports, and imposing fines on credit bureaus that fail to place consumer-requested security alerts on credit reports. Other legislation authored by Figueroa bans false and misleading advertising from cosmetic surgery advertisements, and requires information about physicians who have malpractice judgments and criminal convictions to be posted on the Internet.
Senator Figueroa’s extremely popular and successful SB 771 created the “Do Not Call List” enabling Californians to block telemarketing calls and prompted the Bush Administration to follow her lead with a national “Do Not Call” program that is now fully in effect. In 2004, she was named the recipient of the “Brandeis Award” by Privacy International, an award given to those who have demonstrated exemplary work to protect and champion the privacy rights of individuals.
In addition, Senator Figueroa continues to be a strong advocate for the environment while maintaining a business-friendly climate for companies doing business in California. Some of her more noteworthy measures aimed at protecting business interests include expediting the clean-up of contaminated sites, placing limits on frivolous lawsuits against businesses, and helping to keep Workers’ Compensation premiums lower by cracking down on Workers’ Comp fraud. The Senator’s environmental record includes authoring or sponsoring legislation ensuring the safe disposal of medical and household hazardous waste and the creation of the Fluorescent Lamp Recycling Account for the safe disposal of mercury lamps and fluorescent bulbs (a huge source of mercury that leaches into our waterways and soils from landfill disposal). Protecting marine waters and habitats, and keeping the air clean through the promotion of public transportation with the addition of High-Occupancy Vehicle lanes (HOV) in the Bay Area, continues to be a priority for the Senator.
Other significant efforts by Senator Figueroa include work on behalf of women and human rights – both of which have gained international recognition. She has spearheaded action on important issues such as outlawing female genital mutilation, banning California’s use of products made by slave labor, prohibiting insurance companies from discriminating against victims of domestic violence, and fast-tracking restraining orders for domestic violence victims. As chair of the Legislative Women’s Caucus, Figueroa worked tirelessly to secure funding for domestic violence shelters and restitution for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault.
As chair of the Legislature’s Trade Committee for the past two years, she has fought for international trade agreements that include enforceable provisions to address labor and human rights violations. Last year, Senator Figueroa took the lead to address the problems surrounding the outsourcing of jobs and services to foreign countries. Her SB 1451 – the only bill which made it to the Governor’s desk – sought to protect consumers’ medical and financial records pursuant to California law, even when the jobs or services are outsourced overseas. Unfortunately, Governor Schwarzenegger chose to veto this important privacy legislation.
Senator Figueroa currently serves as a board member for the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund (MALDEF), Women in Government, Hispanic Community Affairs Council, Joint Venture Silicon Valley Network, the American Board of Plastic Surgery, Legal Assistance for Seniors, Centro Legal de la Raza Advisory Board, California Corporate Board Registry Advisory Board and the Board for the California Elected Women’s Association for Education and Research (CEWAER).
The Senator was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area and was the first Northern California Latina to be elected to the Legislature. Both of her parents are from El Salvador. Prior to serving in the State Legislature, she owned and operated Figueroa Employment Consultants for seventeen years, a business that specialized in placing injured workers in jobs. In 1985, Senator Figueroa was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Union Sanitary District and served as the district’s president, the first female president in its 71-year history. She is the mother of AnaLisa Luippold and Aaron Bloom and the grandmother of Andrew and Cameron.
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