Sheila James Kuehl was elected in November 2014 as Los Angeles County
Supervisor, representing the third supervisorial district and its two million
constituents. Prior to her election, she
was the Founding Director of the Santa Monica College Public Policy Institute,
established in 2010. In her previous
elected positions, she served eight years in the State Senate and six years in
the State Assembly, and, in 2008, left the legislature under California's term
limits statute. She was the first woman in California history to be named
Speaker pro Tempore of the Assembly. She is also the first openly gay or
lesbian person to be elected to the California Legislature. During her tenure in the Legislature, she
served as chair of the Senate Health Committee, the Senate Natural Resources
and Water Committee and the Assembly Judiciary Committee, and sat as a member
on virtually every committee in both houses
A former pioneering civil rights attorney and law professor, she has
worked with Santa Monica College, the City of West Hollywood, the Williams
Institute at the UCLA Law School and others on a variety of public policy
issues. She was co-author of "Safe At School: Addressing the School
Environment and LGBT Safety through Policy and Legislation", co-trainer
for the Institute for Elected Women: California, and a Distinguished Policy
Fellow at the UCLA School of Public Affairs.
In her fourteen years in the State Legislature, Kuehl
authored 171 bills that were signed into law, including legislation to
establish paid family leave, establish the rights contained in Roe vs. Wade in California statute, overhaul
California’s child support services system; establish nurse to patient ratios
in every hospital; require that housing developments of more than 500 units
have identified sources of water; further protect domestic violence victims and
their children; prohibit discrimination on the basis of gender and disability
in the workplace and sexual orientation in education; increase the rights of
crime victims; safeguard the environment and drinking water; and many, many
others. Beginning in 2003, she led the fight in the legislature to
achieve true universal health care in California, and, in 2006, and again in
2008, brought SB 840, the California Universal Healthcare Act, to the
Governor’s desk, the first time in U.S. history a single-payer healthcare bill
had gone so far.
She was selected to address the 1996 Democratic
National Convention on the issue of family violence and the 2000 Democratic
National Convention on the issue of diversity. In 1996, George magazine
selected her as one of the 20 most fascinating women in politics and the
California Journal named her “Rookie of the Year.” In 1998 and, again, in
2000, the California Journal chose her as the Assembly member with the greatest
intelligence and the most integrity. In 2006, Capitol Weekly picked her
as the most intelligent member of the California Legislature.
Prior to her foray into elective politics,
Supervisor Kuehl drafted and fought to get into California law more than 40
pieces of legislation relating to children, families, women, and domestic
violence. She was a law professor at Loyola, UCLA and USC Law Schools and
co-founded and served as managing attorney of the California Women’s Law
Center.
Supervisor Kuehl graduated from Harvard Law
School in 1978 where she was the second woman in the school’s history to win
the Moot Court competition. She served on the Harvard University Board of
Overseers from 1998 to 2005.
In her youth, she was known for her portrayal of
the irrepressible Zelda Gilroy in the television series, “The Many Loves of
Dobie Gillis.” See more at http://www.sheilakuehl.org.