Assembly Speaker Karen Bass

• Bass represents Culver City, West Los Angeles, Westwood, Cheviot Hills, Leimert Park, Baldwin Hills, Windsor Hills, Ladera Heights, the Crenshaw District, Little Ethiopia and portions of Korea Town and South Los Angeles.

History

• Assembly Speaker Karen Bass grew up in the Venice/Fairfax area. She is the only girl of DeWitt and Wilhelmina Bass. Her father worked as mail carrier and her mother, who once owned her own beauty salon, was a stay at home mother. Bass grew up with three brothers – two older and one younger.
• Karen Bass graduated from Hamilton High School (Los Angeles), Cal State Dominguez Hills (BA – Health Sciences) and University of Southern California School of Medicine (Physician Assistant Certificate).
• Bass, who is divorced, had one daughter, Emilia Bass-Lechuga and four step children.

Terms in the State Assembly

• In her first term in the State Assembly, Karen Bass served as the Majority Whip.
• In her second term, she was elevated to the post of Majority Floor Leader, making her the first woman to hold the post and the second African American to serve in the position.
• Karen Bass has been a State Assembly Member representing Los Angeles’ 47th Assembly District since 2005.
• In May 2008, she became the first female and African American Speaker of the California State Assembly.