California Assembly Member Mike Eng

Biography

Assemblymember Mike Eng represents the 49th Assembly District, which is located within eastern Los Angeles County and includes the cities of Alhambra, El Monte, Monterey Park, Rosemead, San Gabriel, San Marino and South El Monte.

Assemblymember Eng chairs the State Assembly Transportation Committee, which oversees the work of the state Office of Traffic Safety, the High Speed Rail Authority, and the Departments of Transportation, Motor Vehicles, California Highway Patrol and Air Resources (for mobile source emissions).  Consequently, the Committee develops policies for a broad range of issues such as those related to vehicle license and registration, the State Highway System, local streets and roads, transit, general aviation, fuels, rules of the road, and rail.

Recently, Assemblymember Eng was appointed by Assembly Speaker Karen Bass to the California Transportation Commission (CTC) to serve as one of two ex-officio members.  The CTC is responsible for the programming and allocation of funds for the construction of highway, passenger rail and transit improvements throughout California.

Assemblymember Eng has a wide range of other important assignments, including membership on the Assembly committees on Business and Employment (of which he previously chaired), Education, Housing and Community Development and Labor Employment. 

Assemblymember Eng’s top legislative priorities include addressing California’s transportation infrastructure needs, “green” job creation, tackling the underground economy by going after tax cheats, advocating for stronger consumer protections, fighting for groundwater cleanup in the San Gabriel Valley and throughout the state, eliminating health disparities amongst underserved communities and confronting the growing problem of hates crimes in California and the rest of the nation.

Prior to serving in the State Assembly, Assemblymember Eng was appointed to the California Department of Consumer Affairs Acupuncture Board for two terms where he served as Board Vice Chair and Chair of the Enforcement Committee.  He also served as Mayor and City Councilmember of Monterey Park, where he helped start the region’s first city Environmental Commission to deal with quality of life issues, initiated a summer science program for low-income students, enhanced after school programs, organized the city’s Clean Up the City Day, facilitated the city’s first workshop for home care workers and founded numerous scholarship opportunities for high school students.

Assemblymember Eng served three terms as a Monterey Park Library Board Trustee and chaired the successful library building campaign that raised local matching funds and qualified for state funding for an $18 million library expansion.  He was named California’s Outstanding Library Trustee in 2002 for his work.  He was also Monterey Park's "Volunteer of the Year" for his video that prepares viewers for the U.S. citizenship exam and which led to an Emmy award-winning production.

As a longtime community leader, Assemblymember Eng serves on the Board of Directors of the West San Gabriel Valley Boys and Girls Club and provided free immigration legal advice to immigrant working families.  In addition, he served on the Garfield Medical Center Board of Directors.

Assemblymember Eng earned his law degree from the University of California Los Angeles after completing Bachelors and Masters degrees at the University of Hawaii while working full time at a local emergency room.  He is also a part-time community college instructor.