Anthony Portantino

Anthony J. Portantino is an American politician who has been elected to the California State Senate. A Democrat, he will represent the 25th Senate District which encompasses portions of the San Fernando and San Gabriel Valleys.

Prior to his election to the State Senate, Portantino served in the California State Assembly from 2006 to 2012, representing the 44th Assembly District. He won election to the State Senate in 2016 after defeating Republican Los Angeles County Supervisor Mike Antonovich.

Political career

Assemblyman Portantino served two terms on the La Cañada Flintridge City Council, from 1999 until 2006. There, he was mentored by now State Senator Carol Liu, who endorsed him to succeed her in the California State Assembly.^[1]

Portantino wrote AB 144, a law that made it illegal to open carry an unloaded gun in California. It has since been the corner stone of the lawsuit challenging the California's unconstitutional laws that are currently being reviewed by the 9th district.

Portantino's professional experience includes working in the art department and as Property Master with the American Playhouse, was Production Designer on Grizzly Adams: The Mark of the Bear and Art Director on Unsolved Mysteries.

At the request of the Screen Actors Guild in 2010, Portantino proposed an anti-gatecrashing law that would make party crashing a misdemeanor with punishments being up to six months in jail, or a $1,000 fine, or both. He said that party crashing posed a threat to public safety. He introduced legislation to remove tattoos from victims of forced prostitution.^[2]

In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Portantino served on these committees: Select Committee on Aerospace Governmental Organization Committee, California General Assembly Higher Education Committee, California General Assembly (Chair) Human Services Committee, California General Assembly Labor and Employment Committee, California General Assembly Select Committee on Preservation of California's Entertainment Industry Revenue and Taxation Committee, California General Assembly Sponsored legislation Portantino's sponsored legislation includes: AB 52 - Umbilical Cord Blood Collection Program AB 56 - Health care coverage: mammographies AB 169 - Communicable disease: involuntary testing

2011-2012 In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Portantino served on these committees: Accountability and Administrative Review Committee, California General Assembly Higher Education Committee, California General Assembly Human Services Committee, California General Assembly Master Plan for Higher Education Transportation Committee, California General Assembly https://ballotpedia.org/Anthony_Portantino,_Jr.

After he term finished in the California State Assembly, Portantino initially stated that he would run for Congress against David Dreier, even though the district had yet to be drawn.^[3] He later contemplated a run against Senator Carol Liu in State Senate District 25 ^[4] but opted against it, citing personal reasons.^[5] In 2013, Portantino began actively campaigning to fill the seat of Senator Liu, who will be forced out of the District 25 position by term limits in 2016.^[6]

Legislative scorecard Capitol Weekly, California's major weekly periodical covering the state legislature, publishes an annual legislative scorecard to pin down the political or ideological leanings of every member of the legislature based on how they voted on an assortment of bills in the most recent legislative session. The 2009 scores were based on votes on 19 bills, but did not include how legislators voted on the Proposition 1A (2009). On the scorecard, "100" is a perfect liberal score and "0" is a perfect conservative score.[10][11]

On the 2009 Capitol Weekly legislative scorecard, Portantino ranked as a 94.

References

External links

• Official Campaign web site