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ABOUT JUDY…
Judy Chu was elected to the California State Board of Equalization on November 7, 2007, and was sworn into office on January 8, 2007. As a member of the Board of Equalization, she serves as one of the top 12 constitutional offices of the State of California. Dr. Chu represents the 8.5 million people of District 4, which encompasses most of Los Angeles County. The Board of Equalization is the only elected statewide constitutional tax authority in the nation and collects $50 billion for the state of California through taxes and fees, which is 36% of the state's budget.
Previous to this, Dr. Chu was an Assembly Member of the 49th Assembly District in the west San Gabriel Valley from 2001 to 2006. She chaired the State Assembly Appropriations Committee, which oversees all legislation that had a fiscal impact on the state. She served as a member of Speaker Nunez' executive leadership team. As a member of the Budget Conference Committee, which was responsible for negotiating the final version of California's $99 billion annual budget, she worked to maintain critical healthcare programs and social services for seniors, children, and the developmentally disabled. In the Assembly, she has chaired the Select Committee on Hate Crimes, the California Asian and Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus, the Health and Human Services Budget Subcommittee, and was a member of the Assembly Revenue and Taxation Committee.
Dr. Chu authored a landmark tax amnesty bill which was estimated to bring in $300 million but actually brought in $4.8 billion for the state budget without raising taxes. It was the most successful tax amnesty in history in the nation. Her other bills targeted a wide variety of issues. She fought to protect women through her Sexual Assault Survivors' DNA Bill of Rights and through a bill protecting the assets of domestic violence survivors. She authored a landmark bill to provide standards of protection from the heat for all outdoor workers. She authored measures to protect immigrants from victimization by fraudulent immigration consultants and from deceptive bait-and-switch practices. Her hate crimes bills provided for an automatic protective order for hate crime victims, improved the prosecution of hate crimes, and allowed courts to mandate anti-bias counseling for perpetrators. She authored bills to enable aging schools greater access to state modernization funds and to establish an environmental justice small grant program.
Prior to the State Assembly, Dr. Chu served on the Monterey Park City Council for thirteen years from 1988 to 2001, and served as Mayor three times. Dr. Chu has been dedicated to education for decades, and was a community college professor in psychology for 20 years. She started in public service as a board member of the Garvey School District from 1985 to 1988. She has a Ph.D. in psychology and a B.A. in math.
Dr. Chu has been named the Legislator of the Year by the California Primary Care Association, the California Children's Specialty Care Coalition, the California Federation of Teachers, and the California National Organization for Women. She has earned a 100% rating by the Congress of California Seniors, the Children's Advocacy Institute, and the California League of Conservation Voters.
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