Assemblymember Lisa Calderon was elected in November 2020 to represent the 56th Assembly District, which covers the South East portions of Los Angeles County and the San Gabriel Valley.
Lisa was born and raised in California’s Central Valley, where her parents and grandmother labored in fields, farms, and factories to create a life in the Golden State. She went on to attend California State University, Sacramento and worked her way through college as a waitress to pay for tuition. Early in her career, she became one of the state’s first Latina Legislative Aides under then Assembly Speaker Willie Brown, where she assisted constituents with navigating state and local government. During this time, Lisa was also a community leader, organizing against Prop 187 to protect the livelihood of immigrants in California. Prior to her election to the Assembly, Lisa worked for an electric utility company, which strengthened her understanding of renewable energy policy and wildfire mitigation.
During her time as an Assemblymember, Lisa has advocated to bring state resources to working families, foster youth, students experiencing homelessness, and the elderly. She was successful in securing millions of dollars of funding in the state budget to support asylees with resources during their transition to life in California. She successfully passed legislation to prohibit California colleges and universities from reducing the financial aid of students awarded private scholarships.
As the state battled historic, climate change-induced wildfires, Lisa authored legislation to protect the lung health of Californians and supported legislation that established the groundwork for offshore wind infrastructure along California’s coasts. She has led efforts to advance urban tree canopy coverage across the state and greening of k-12 public schools. To combat drought, Lisa authored legislation to expedite the construction of drought-resilient water projects in Southern California.
In recognition for her work, Lisa received the “2022 Distinguished Public Service Leader Award” from Spiritt Family Centers and the “2022 Distinction in Making College Dreams a Reality Award” from the Campaign for College Opportunity. She was also selected by the California Society for Respiratory Care as their “2022 Legislator of the Year” for her efforts to advance lung health.
In 2021, she was appointed to serve on the Council of State Governments West Executive Committee (CSG West) by Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon. CSG West is a nonprofit, non-partisan organization that facilitates regional cooperation, exchange of information and fosters the strengthening of legislative institutions among its member states.
Assemblymember Lisa Calderon currently serves as the Chair of the Committee on Insurance and is a member of the Committees on Appropriations, Emergency Management, Human Services, and Utilities and Energy. Lisa is a Commissioner on the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls. She stands with the Commission as an integral voice for women and girls in California to demand equity and equality, and strives to achieve economic stability, wellness, and justice on their behalf.
Lisa has resided in the City of Whittier for over 30 years with her husband, Chuck, and has raised three sons in local schools.