Senator Holly J. Mitchell has been described by The Los Angeles Times as “the Legislature’s moral compass.” She was named the first African American to chair the powerful Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee. The Senator has focused on improving human services, expanding access to healthcare, defending the civil rights of minorities and the undocumented, and reducing the numbers of children growing up in poverty.
Senator Mitchell has consistently stood for environmental justice. She has supported legislation that prohibits oil drilling in state waters (SB 834), increases investments in our natural ecosystem (SB30), and places California on track to 100% renewable energy by 2045 (SB 100). She stood up against fracking, introducing legislation that would have put a moratorium on the practice in the State of California (SB 1132). Senator Mitchell sent a letter to the City of Los Angeles in support of adopting a 2,500 foot distance setback to separate oil and gas extraction operations from homes and schools. Her work in helping to pass environmentally friendly laws has earned her a 100% score from the California League of Conservation Voters, and a 100% rating from this year’s Sierra Club report card. Senator Mitchell has never accepted money from the oil industry and has pledged not to do so in the future.
From 2017 to present Sen. Mitchell has overseen the adoption of three consecutive state budgets with the totaling nearly $215 billion each. The Senator has supported all efforts to expand access to healthcare, early care, and education while reinvesting in neglected services to help the elderly, unhoused and families living in poverty.
In addition to her chairmanship on the Senate Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, she also chairs the Senate Select Committee on Social Determinants of Children’s Well-Being and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. Sen. Mitchell sits on the Senate Health Committee, the Joint Committee on Rules, the Public Safety Committee, the Labor and Industrial Relations Committee, and the Insurance Committee, Select Committees on Mental Health, the Status of Boys and Men of Color, and Women Work and Families.
Sen. Mitchell has been cited for her outstanding leadership by more than 100 community and business groups, including the Courage Campaign, Sierra Club, United Cerebral Palsy Association, the Greater Los Angeles African American Chamber of Commerce and the Women’s Foundation of California Board. She was named the 2019 National Leader of the Year by the Fathers & Families Coalition of America and this year received the Budget Champion Award from Provider Alliance to End Homelessness.