Anthony Rendon

Anthony Rendon is Speaker of the California State Assembly. He was elected to the Assembly in 2012 to represent the 62nd Assembly District in southeast Los Angeles County, and elected Speaker in 2016. In 2020, he led the Assembly in addressing the COVID-19 crisis in California. Under his leadership, the legislature passed critical legislation to address the health and economic crises of the pandemic, including multiple eviction moratoriums and legislation to support families and small businesses. In 2019, he led the Assembly to conduct one of the most progressive and productive legislative sessions in memory; among the Assembly’s recent accomplishments are the historic changes to law enforcement use of force rules, expanded worker protections, and restrictions on predatory lending. In the 2017–18 legislative session, he led the Assembly in passing a landmark $52 billion transportation funding plan, an extension of California’s cap-and-trade program—a first-of-its-kind clean air measure—and efforts to address the affordable housing crisis. In his first year as speaker, the Assembly passed landmark progressive legislation, including the nation’s first statewide $15 minimum wage, overtime pay for farmworkers, and groundbreaking policies on gun and tobacco use. During his first term in the Assembly, he authored Proposition 1, the $7.5 billion state water bond, and in 2015, he authored Assembly Bill 530, a law that spurs much-needed revitalization of the lower Los Angeles River. As chair of the Utilities and Commerce Committee, he led ongoing efforts to ensure accountability at the California Public Utilities Commission. Prior to serving in the Assembly, he worked as an educator, nonprofit executive director, and environmental activist. He was executive director of Plaza de la Raza Child Development Services, Inc., which provides comprehensive child development and social and medical services to over 2,300 children and families throughout Los Angeles County. Before working at Plaza, he served as the interim executive director of the California League of Conservation Voters from 2008 to 2009. He attended Cerritos Community College and went on to earn his bachelor’s and master’s degrees from California State University, Fullerton. As a recipient of a National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship, he earned his PhD from the University of California, Riverside and completed post-doctoral work at Boston University.