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Dave Jones (D-Sacramento) represents the 9th District in the California State Assembly.
Jones chairs the Assembly Judiciary Committee and serves on the following additional standing Committees of the Assembly: Budget, Health, Agriculture and Utilities and Commerce. He also serves on the Select Committee on Youth Violence Prevention.
Dave Jones had several significant legislative accomplishments as a freshman. In his first year, seventeen of his bills made it to the Governor and twelve were signed into law – the highest percentage of bills signed of any freshman legislator. In his second year, fifteen of his bills made it to the Governor’s desk and ten were signed into law. These bills demonstrate his commitment to children, affordable housing, environmental protection, health care, privacy rights, and improving access to the courts. His Assembly Bill 1233 was called the ‘most import housing bill of the year’ by affordable housing advocates and his landmark conservatorship reform bill (AB 1363) was one of the most significant bills of 2006. In 2006, Capitol Weekly named Assemblymember Jones the “most effective legislator” other than the Speaker of the Assembly and the Senate President Pro Tem.
Assemblymember Jones successfully obtained a $500 million emergency appropriation for levee improvements that allowed construction to begin to repair Sacramento levees. At the same time, Jones led the effort to put the $4.09 billion Disaster Preparedness and Flood Protection bond on the ballot, which was then approved by the voters. Jones also secured $10 million in the state budget for self-help law centers, and made funds available for grants to nonprofit legal aid organizations to help meet the legal needs of low-income, elderly, and disabled peoples.
In response to IRS calculations that Sacramento residents fail to claim over $39 million in Earned Income Tax Credits, Jones established a coalition to promote a free tax assistance program for families earning less than $37,000 per year. Responding to concerns about the need for oversight, Jones is leading the effort to create an Office of Sheriff Accountability for Sacramento County that would impartially investigate citizen complaints of misconduct.
Assemblymember Jones was honored as ‘Legislator of The Year’ by both the Consumer Attorneys of California and the Conference of State Delegates of the Bar Association of California, received the ‘Unity Award’ from the Greater Sacramento Urban League for embracing achievement and diversity, and received the ‘2005 Profiles in Courage Award’ from LAMBDA. The national Floodplain Management Association honored Jones with their 2006 award for Meritorious Achievement for his work to prevent catastrophic flooding in California.
Prior to his election to the State Assembly, Dave Jones served as a Sacramento City Councilmember for five and a half years. Before his election to the City Council, Jones worked for six years as a legal aid attorney with Legal Services of Northern California, providing free legal assistance to the poor. In 1995, Jones was one of only 13 Americans awarded the prestigious and competitive White House Fellowship, and he served in the Clinton Administration for three years first as Special Assistant and then Counsel to United States Attorney General Janet Reno.
Jones is a graduate of DePauw University, Harvard Law School and Harvard's Kennedy School of Government. He and his wife, Kim Flores, have two young children, Isabelle and William, and live in Sacramento.
For more information, please visit www.assembly.ca.gov/jones. |