Doug LaMalfa

Doug LaMalfa
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 1st district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2013
Preceded by	Mike Thompson
Member of the California State Senate from the 4th district
In office December 6, 2010 – August 31, 2012
Preceded by	Sam Aanestad
Succeeded by	Jim Nielsen
Member of the California State Assembly from the 2nd district
In office December 2, 2002 – December 1, 2008
Preceded by	Richard Dickerson
Succeeded by	Jim Nielsen
Personal details
Born	(1960-07-02) July 2, 1960 Oroville, California, U.S.
Nationality	American
Political party	Republican
Spouse(s)	Jill LaMalfa
Children	4
Residence	Richvale, California, U.S.
Alma mater	Cal Poly San Luis Obispo
Profession	Farmer, businessman
Religion	Evangelical Free Church[1]
Website	Representative Doug LaMalfa

Douglas L. LaMalfa (born July 2, 1960) is an American politician. A Republican, he has been the U.S. Representative for California's 1st congressional district, located in Northern California, since 2013. LaMalfa previously served in the California State Assembly, representing the 2nd district, from 2002 to 2008, and he served in the California State Senate, representing the 4th district, from 2010 to 2012.

Early life, education, and early career

LaMalfa is a fourth-generation rice farmer and a lifelong Northern California resident. He graduated from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo with a Bachelor's degree in Ag/Business. He and his wife, Jill, along with their four children, live on the family rice farm in Richvale, an unincorporated suburban community south of Chico, founded by his great-grandfather in 1931.

He was elected as a founding director of the California Rice Commission from Butte County. LaMalfa also served on the Domestic Promotion Committee of the USA Rice Federation. He was chairman of the Richvale Foundation Boosters, an organization dedicated to maintaining the profitability of the Richvale Café, a community meeting facility. LaMalfa is an owner and manager of the Dsl Lamalfa Family Partnership, which owns and operates the family farm. Since 1995, Dsl Lamalfa Family Partnership has received payments totaling $5,132,156 in federal commodity subsidies.^[2]

California Assembly

Elections

In 2002, LaMalfa ran for the California Assembly in the 2nd District. He won the Republican primary with 59% of the vote,^[3] and the general election with 67%.^[4] He won re-election in 2004 (68%)^[5] and 2006 (68%).^[6]

Tenure

LaMafla worked with Bernie Richter as an early supporter of Proposition 209, which ended affirmative action in California. He also worked for passage of the Protection of Marriage Act, Proposition 22, which banned Same-sex marriage in California, and after that initiative was overturned by the courts, he was an early supporter and active in the Proposition 8 campaign.^[7] LaMalfa authored ACA 22 to protect private property owners from government abuse of eminent domain. He also wrote the Forest Fire Protection Act of 2004 to allow landowners to make their rural lands fire-safe and without forest management.

LaMalfa opposed Mike Feuer's microstamping bill, AB 1471, which was signed into law by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger on October 13, 2007.^[8] He opposed Speaker Fabian Núñez's bill AB 8, which was designed to mandate businesses of a certain size to provide health insurance to their employees.

LaMalfa was a co-author of ACA 20, which, similar to Arizona's new law, would empower law enforcement to act as Immigration, Customs Enforcement Agents and would have cracked down on illegal immigration.^[9] ACA 20 failed to pass the first hearing by a 3-to-6 vote.

In 2007, he successfully passed AB 1645, a law that would prevent seizures of firearms in the event of an emergency or natural disaster. This was the first pro-gun legislation passed and signed into law in a decade. When LaMalfa was named the California Rifle and Pistol Association's "Legislator of the Year" for 2007, he said "Receiving this award today from the California Rifle and Pistol Association is a truly humbling honor."^[10]

Committee assignments

• Joint Committee on Legislative Audit^[11]
• Public Safety^[12]
• West Nile virus^[13]

California Senate

2010 election

In 2010, he ran for the California State Senate in the 4th District. In the Republican primary, he defeated State Representative Rick Keene 58%–42%.^[14] In the general election, he defeated Lathe Gill 68%–32%.^[15]

Tenure

In November 2011, LaMalfa opposed a proposed bullet train saying "In light of the High Speed Rail plan that was submitted and that the numbers still do not work, California in this dire fiscal crisis that we're in, we're going to introduce legislation to repeal the HSR Authority and the funding for that the state was going to put forward."^[16]

LaMalfa gave Democratic Governor Jerry Brown a "C" for his fiscal policies in 2011.^[17]

LaMalfa opposed a bill that would require history teachers in all California public schools to teach history of homosexuality and gay civil rights. LaMalfa stated the Governor Brown was "out of touch with what I think are still mainstream American values. That's not the kind of stuff I want my kids learning about in public school. They've really crossed a line into a new frontier."^[18]

LaMalfa strongly opposed the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which would eliminate the Electoral College. He argued "I think this is dangerous. It flies in the face of 220 years of election law. We have an electoral college; it was put there for a reason."^[19]

Committee assignments

• Agriculture
• Budget and Fiscal Review
• Elections and Constitutional Amendments (Vice Chair)
• Governance and Finance
• Natural Resources and Water (Vice Chair)
• Veterans Affairs
• Joint Committee on Legislative Audit
• Joint Committee on Fairs, Allocation, and Classification (Chair)
• Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture^[20]

U.S. House of Representatives

2012 election

In January 2012, 2nd district Congressman Wally Herger announced that he was retiring after eight terms. Hours after Herger announced his retirement, Republican consultant Dave Gilliard told Flash Report that Herger had endorsed LaMalfa as his successor in the district, which was renumbered as the 1st District in the 2010 round of redistricting.^[21] LaMalfa finished first in the June 2012 primary election with 38% of the vote in an eight-person race, winning 10 out of the district's 11 counties.^[22] On November 6, 2012, LaMalfa defeated Democratic Party candidate Jim Reed 57%–43%.^[23]

2014 election

In the 2014 primary election, LaMalfa faced criticism for his support farm subsidies, LaMalfa was challenged in the 2014 general election by Democrat Heidi Hall, she lost receiving only 38% of the vote.

Tenure

In 2013 LaMalfa signed a pledge sponsored by Americans for Prosperity promising to vote against any global warming-related legislation that would raise taxes.^[24]

Committee assignments

• Committee on Agriculture
  • Subcommittee on General Farm Commodities and Risk Management
  • Subcommittee on Horticulture, Research, Biotechnology, and Foreign Agriculture
• Committee on Natural Resources
  • Subcommittee on Indian and Alaska Native Affairs
  • Subcommittee on Public Lands and Environmental Regulation
  • Subcommittee on Water and Power

Electoral history

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Doug LaMalfa.

• Congressman Doug LaMalfa official U.S. House website
• Doug LaMalfa for Congress
• Doug LaMalfa at DMOZ
• Appearances on C-SPAN
• Biography at the Biographical Directory of the United States Congress
• Profile at Project Vote Smart
• Financial information (federal office) at the Federal Election Commission
• Legislation sponsored at The Library of Congress
• Environmental Working Group Farm Subsidy Database for Dsl Lamalfa Family Partnership, since 1995
• Blog by Doug LaMalfa (no longer being updated)