Loni Hancock

Infobox State Representative
name =Loni Hancock


state_assembly =California
district =14^th
term_start3 =2002
term_end3 =
preceded3 =Dion Aroner
succeeded3 =Incumbent
nationality =American
date of birth =
place of birth =
date of death =
place of death =
spouse =Tom Bates
profession =Politician
alma_mater =Ithaca College
religion =
party=Democratic

Loni Hancock (born 1941) is currently serving in her third term as the representative of California State Assembly District 14. The 14th Assembly District includes Albany, Berkeley, Canyon, El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Emeryville, Kensington, Lafayette, Moraga, Orinda Pleasant Hill, Richmond, San Pablo and parts of Martinez, Oakland, and Walnut Creek. She previously served as the mayor of Berkeley, California from 1986 to 1994. Hancock's party affiliation is with the Democratic Party. She has a B.A. from Ithaca College. Hancock has lived in Berkeley since 1964 and is married to Berkeley Mayor and former District 14 California State Assemblymember Tom Bates. They have four children and seven grandchildren.

City Council Member and Mayor

Hancock served Berkeley as a member of the city council from 1971-1979. One of Hancock's achievements as a member of the council was the preservation of the Berkeley marina from development. She helped conducted a study by a group of students from the University of California at Berkeley that showed that major development in the marina area would threaten the wildlife in the area.

Hancock was the first woman to serve as the Mayor of Berkeley, California. Serving as mayor for two terms, she balanced seven straight city budgets, forged a historic agreement between the city and the University of California, began the revitalization of downtown Berkeley, led efforts to secure additional open space and launched a Bio-Tech Academy at Berkeley High School (in partnership with Bayer).

Roles in Presidential Administrations

Assemblywoman Hancock also served as President Jimmy Carter's Regional Director for ACTION, overseeing a host of domestic volunteer programs including VISTA, Foster Grandparents, Senior Companions and Retired Senior Volunteer Program. In 1994, Hancock left her position as mayor of Berkeley to serve in adminstraion of President Bill Clinton. Hancock headed the Western Regional Office of the U.S. Department of Education. Working with schools, communities, state and local governments, she helped launch many of Clinton's education initiatives.

Assembly Member

Hancock chairs the Assembly Committee on Natural Resources. She led the committee to pass environmental legislation that protects open space, expands recycling programs and promotes healthy city-infill strategies in the state. Hancock also chairs the Assembly Select Committee on Bridging the Achievement Gap which has worked to reduce high dropout rates, improve school-to-career programs, and has provided oversight of the federal No Child Left Behind Act. Last year, the Governor signed legislation authored by Assemblywoman Hancock to greatly expand career technical education programs for high school students.

Hancock sits on the Assembly Committee on Rules and chairs the Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment and Violence Prevention, and is a member of the Committee on Education, the Committee on Housing and Community Development, the Budget Committee and the Budget Subcommittee on Health and Human Services. She has used the later to committee positions to help expand health care programs for children, increase funding for foster youth programs and prevent cuts in Medi-Cal stipends and proposed cuts to programs for seniors and people with disabilities.

Hancock is strongly committed to campaign finance reform, and she authored AB 583, the California Clean Money and Fair Elections Act, to provide full public financing for all statewide races in California. In June 2007, the bill passed the Assembly with 45 votes. AB 583 is currently making its way through the California State Senate.

Hancock was the first state Assemblymember in California to launch a Web log, or "blog.” The blog enables her to communicate directly with and receive input from her constituents on a variety of issues.

Run for State Senate

Hancock will be termed out of her current Assembly seat in 2008. Hancock is running for the Senate District 9 seat currently held by Don Perata. She defeated former Assemblywoman Wilma Chan in the Democratic primary with a final percentage of 56.5% to Chan's 43.5%. With heavily Democratic registration advantages in District 9, she is a certainty to take the seat in the general election.

External links

* [http://hancockforsenate.com/ Loni Hancock's campaign website for State Senate]
* [http://www.lonihancock.blogspot.com Loni Hancock's blog]
* [http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a14/ official State Assembly page]
* [http://www.ucop.edu/state/advocacy/biographies/ADHancock14.pdf. UCOP Biography]