Biographies

2008 Public Policy Leadership Award Honorees

Senator Sheila Kuehl

Sen. Sheila Kuehl has devoted 14 years to public service and is being recognized for her leadership in promoting the health and safety of underserved Californians. Among the bills she has authored are measures to protect reproductive rights, fund hospitals and clinics, extend health insurance benefits to disabled people, and expand access to primary preventive health and screening services for low-income families. Sen. Kuehl’s passionate service as chair of the Senate Health Committee put universal access to health care at the center of California’s policy debate. She has also worked extensively to curb family violence and violence against youth. Kuehl authored the California School Safety and Violence Prevention Act of 2000, which added sexual orientation and gender identity to the list of prohibited biases for discrimination in publicly funded schools. She also demonstrated legislative leadership in the area of environmental health, evidenced by forcing a high level of cleanup of the toxic and radioactive material left behind at the Santa Susana Field Laboratory.

Senator Jack Scott

Sen. Jack Scott has worked for more than 12 years in the California Legislature. Before beginning his legislative career in the state Assembly in 1996, he had a career in higher education and was active in civic affairs, founding the Coalition for a Non-Violent City in Pasadena. Sen. Scott has been a leader in advancing policies to control the proliferation of guns, improve school safety, and enhance youths’ access to after-school activities — strategies that have solid track records for reducing violence against youth. He has also advanced measures that address the critical nursing shortage, strengthen vocational education programs, streamline the transfer process for community college students, and create a new funding system for California community colleges — efforts that lay the foundation to develop California’s health care workforce by increasing access to higher education and specialized training. Sen. Scott authored the bill that created the Health Care Workforces Clearinghouse within the Office of Statewide Health Planning and Development. After leaving the Senate, Scott will serve as chancellor of California’s community college system.