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Laura Richardson | |
|---|---|
 Official portrait, 2024 | |
| Member of theCalifornia Senate from the35th district | |
| Assumed office December 2, 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Steven Bradford |
| Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's37th district | |
| In office August 21, 2007 – January 3, 2013 | |
| Preceded by | Juanita Millender-McDonald |
| Succeeded by | Janice Hahn (Redistricting) |
| Member of theCalifornia State Assembly from the55th district | |
| In office December 4, 2006 – September 4, 2007 | |
| Preceded by | Jenny Oropeza |
| Succeeded by | Warren Furutani |
| Personal details | |
| Born | (1962-04-14)April 14, 1962 (age 62) Los Angeles,California, U.S. |
| Political party | Democratic |
| Education | University of California, Los Angeles (BA) University of Southern California (MBA) |
Laura Richardson (born April 14, 1962) is an American politician who has served as a member of theCalifornia State Senate from the35th district since 2024. A member of theDemocratic Party, she previously served as theU.S. representative forCalifornia's 37th congressional district from 2007 to 2013.
She previously represented the 55th district in theCalifornia State Assembly for the 2007 term until she was elected to theHouse of Representatives forCalifornia's 37th congressional district in aspecial election on August 21, 2007, to fill the vacancy resulting from the death ofJuanita Millender-McDonald. She was reelected to represent that district in 2008 and 2010. Following the decennial reorganization of Congressional districts in 2012, most of Richardson's territory became the44th District. She ran against fellow Democratic CongresswomanJanice Hahn in the 2012 Congressional elections cycle. On November 6, 2012, she was defeated in her bid for re-election by Representative Hahn by a landslide 20 percentage points.[1]
Richardson was born inLos Angeles and lives inLong Beach. She was raised by a single mother after her parents divorced when she was two. Her father was a member of theTeamsters.[2] Her father was black and her mother was white. Richardson has said that racism against their mixed-race family was "what got me since the age of about six of wanting to be a public servant."[3]
Richardson was previously married to Long Beach Police ChiefAnthony Batts. During the marriage, she took the name Laura Richardson-Batts. She graduated with abachelor's degree inpolitical science from theUniversity of California, Los Angeles in 1984. In 1987, she joinedXerox Corporation, where she worked for 14 years. In 1996, Richardson received herMBA from theUniversity of Southern California'sMarshall School of Business.[4]
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Richardson served on theLong BeachCity Council from 2000 to 2006. In 2004, Richardson won a second term outright on the first ballot. As a councilwoman, she made statements that her priorities included neighborhood improvement, public safety, attracting jobs and businesses to the cities’ central corridors, job training programs for adults, after-school programs for youth and expanding senior programs.
Richardson established the Sixth District Master Plan, a strategic guideline for development in the area. Other significant accomplishments during her council tenure include securing the first funding for alley maintenance by the city of Long Beach, initiating the planning process for a Senior Transportation Program in the Central Area of Long Beach.
While serving on the city council, Richardson joined the staff ofLieutenant GovernorCruz Bustamante and served as his Southern California director for five years.
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Richardson served as the assistant speakerpro tempore in the Assembly. Richardson was the first African-American and South Bay representative to achieve this position. Additionally, Richardson was appointed to serve on the Budget, Human Services, Utilities & Commerce, Government Organization, and Joint Legislative Budget committees. She was chair of the Select Committee onProposition 209-Equal Opportunity.
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 | This section'sfactual accuracy may be compromised due to out-of-date information. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information.(March 2013) |
In 2003, Richardson said she believedweapons inspections in Iraq should have continued, and that she did not favor an invasion. She was asked by anti-war groups to support aLong Beach City Council resolution declaring the city's opposition to theIraq War. She did not support this resolution, but co-sponsored a resolution declaring support for local members of theNational Guard. Once hostilities began, she stated that it was important tosupport the troops. She argued that onceSaddam Hussein was caught and executed, American troops should have come home. She supports a withdrawal plan beginning in six months, according to her mailers, which often contain pictures of former presidentGeorge W. Bush with a slash mark through his image, indicating her opposition to Bush's policies. She pledged to oppose any new spending for war in Iraq.
Richardson supported AB 900 to create 40,000 moreprison beds in California at the cost of $7.4 billion.
Richardson has faced some harsh scrutiny for not co-sponsoring Rep.Henry Waxman's global warming legislation. As a result,Greenpeace has mounted a public awareness campaign about her position.[5]
Richardson does not support building a border fence. She does support some path to citizenship for certainillegal immigrants.
Laura Richardson endorsedHillary Clinton in the2008 Democratic presidential primaries, although her district voted for 54.2% to 43.5% in favor of Barack Obama.[6]
Richardson voted in favor of a controversial update to theForeign Intelligence Surveillance Act on June 20, 2008. As part of the bill, telecommunications companies that have allegedly acted illegally in allowing the Bush Administration to spy on customers will be protected from prosecution. The administration's surveillance of U.S. citizens and residents is part of theNSA warrantless surveillance controversy.
In the run up to the 2008 election, Richardson came under fire for sending out an anti-LGBTQ mailer against a lesbian candidate in 1996 during her run for the 54th Assembly District, accusing her opponent of being, "committed to a radical gay rights agenda.[7] Despite the controversy, Richardson defeatedState SenatorJenny Oropeza and 9 other Democrats in the June 26primary election to win her party's nomination, the real contest in this heavily Democratic district. On August 21, Richardson won more than 65% of the vote in a four-way race against the nominees of theRepublican Party,Green Party, andLibertarian Party. She easily won a full term in 2008, and was reelected in 2010, in both cases against only nominal Republican opposition
Redistricting for the 2012 elections significantly altered California's congressional map. Richardson had previously represented portions of inland Los Angeles and inland Long Beach, all ofCarson,Compton andSignal Hill, as well as parts of other municipalities. However, her old district was split almost in half, with the bulk of her territory becoming the 44th District. While Richardson's home in Long Beach was drawn into the new47th District, she moved her residence into the 44th district because its demographics were more similar to the old 37th; like the 44th, it is majority black and Latino. Fellow DemocratJanice Hahn, who had previously represented the neighboring36th District, had her home drawn into the 44th as well. TheCalifornia Democratic Party endorsed Hahn for the seat.[8] In the all-party primary, Hahn defeated Richardson with 60 percent of the vote to Richardson's 39 percent—which was all the more remarkable since, on paper, the district's demographics were more favorable to Richardson.
On November 6, 2012, Hahn easily beat Richardson by 20 percentage points.[1]
Richardson was accused of receiving preferential treatment by a bank when it rescinded an erroneous foreclosure of her house, but was cleared of wrongdoing by theHouse Ethics Committee,[9] in accordance with the recommendations of theOffice of Congressional Ethics.[10] Upon the death of Juanita Millender-McDonald, her predecessor in the 37th Congressional District, Richardson seems to have put all of her funds into winning the resulting special election, and as a result stopped paying her mortgages. Following the special election, she made agreements withWashington Mutual to catch up payments on her 3 properties, but the bank violated this agreement with regard to the Sacramento property when it foreclosed on the house. The bank then rescinded the foreclosure, causing the controversy.
After her election to the California Assembly, Richardson purchased a home in Sacramento with no money down[11] and asubprime mortgage. According to county records, Richardson received a default notice and Notice of Trustee's Sale in late 2007. In December 2007, Richardson was behind in payments by more than $18,000.[12] According to the couple that sold the home to Richardson, Richardson was not maintaining the home. Sharon Helmar has stated: "The neighbors are extremely unhappy with her. She didn't mow the lawn or take out the garbage while she was there. We lived there for a long time, 30 years, and we had to hide our heads whenever we came back to the neighborhood."[13]
The real estate broker who bought Richardson's Sacramento house at the foreclosure sale accused her of receiving preferential treatment because her lender had issued a notice to rescind the sale. James York, owner of Red Rock Mortgage, said he would file a lawsuit against Richardson and her lender, Washington Mutual, but settled out of court with the terms not disclosed. Richardson had not been making payments on the property for nearly a year, and had also gone into default on her two other houses in Long Beach and San Pedro. Richardson, D-Long Beach, has said that the auction should never have been held, because she had worked out a loan modification agreement with her lender beforehand and had begun making payments.[14]
The House Ethics Committee, following the recommendations of the Ethics Office, found no wrongdoing other than by Richardson's Mortgage Broker, who was referred to the Justice Department formortgage fraud, which was widespread at the time the mortgage was made. Mistaken foreclosures despite paid-up recovery agreements, such as the one that happened to Richardson, were also becoming rampant during this period.[15][16][17]
Richardson also initially did not disclose a loan from a strip club owner when on the City Council, public records show.[18]
Richardson was speaker of the House pro tempore during the November 29, 2010 lame-duck session of Congress. She initially refused to recognize, then relented to allow committee ranking member Steve Buyer to talk despite the failure of the committee chairman to appear. She was seen discussing with the House parliamentarian and aides how to handle the failure of the committee chairman to appear to present his bill underrules and procedures that minorities in both parties have often denounced when out of power in the House, as Boyer did when recognized in this instance.[19]
On November 3, 2011, theLos Angeles Times reported that Richardson would face an ethics inquiry related to possible illegal use of staffers.
On November 4, 2011, Richardson claimed that the House Ethics Committee, composed of five members from the Democratic Party and five members from Republican Party, singled her out for investigation because she is African-American. The Ethics Committee leaders did announce that the vote to establish a four-member investigative subcommittee was unanimous.[20]
On August 1, 2012, the House Ethics Committee issued its report about accusations of improper use of staff. It found that Richardson had broken federal law, violated House rules and obstructed the Committee's own investigation. She was found guilty on seven counts of violating House rules by improperly pressuring her staff to campaign for her, destroying evidence and tampering with witness testimony. Richardson was ordered to pay a fine of $10,000 within four months and promised to require staffers who work on her campaign to sign a waiver stating that they haven't been pressured to do so.[21] The committee also called on the full House to reprimand Richardson.[22]
The following day, the full House duly voted to accept the Committee report andreprimand Richardson.[23][24]
| California Assembly | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Member of theCalifornia State Assembly from the55th district 2006–2007 | Succeeded by |
| U.S. House of Representatives | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theU.S. House of Representatives fromCalifornia's 37th congressional district 2007–2013 | Succeeded by |
| California Senate | ||
| Preceded by | Member of theCalifornia State Senate from the35th district 2024–present | Incumbent |
| U.S. order of precedence (ceremonial) | ||
| Preceded byas Former US Representative | Order of precedence of the United States as Former US Representative | Succeeded byas Former US Representative |
Members of theCalifornia State Senate | ||
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2025–26 Session
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