Laura Friedman (born December 3, 1966) is an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

politician A politician is a person active in party politics, or a person holding or seeking an elected office in government. Politicians propose, support, reject and create laws that govern the land and by an extension of its people. Broadly speaking, ...

serving in the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The ...

and a candidate for

California's 30th congressional district California's 30th congressional district is a congressional district in the U.S. state of California. The 30th district takes in the Linda Vista neighborhood of Pasadena, and the Los Angeles neighborhoods of Tujunga, Burbank, Glendale, Hol ...

. A Democrat, she represents the 43rd Assembly District, encompassing the cities of

Glendale Glendale is the anglicised version of the Gaelic Gleann Dail, which means ''valley of fertile, low-lying arable land''. It may refer to: Places Australia *Glendale, New South Wales ** Stockland Glendale, a shopping centre * Glendale, Queensland, ...

, Burbank, the unincorporated community of

La Crescenta-Montrose La Crescenta-Montrose () is an unincorporated area in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The community is bordered by Glendale to the south and west, La Cañada Flintridge to the east, and Angeles National Forest to the north. Ac ...

, and northern portions of

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...

, including Studio City and Sherman Oaks. Prior to her election to the Assembly in 2016, Friedman was a member of the

City Council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural coun ...

. She also served as Mayor of Glendale from 2011 to 2012. She is the author of a landmark pro-housing bill to eliminate minimum parking requirements for housing near mass transit stations throughout the state of California; the bill was signed into law in 2022.

Career

Between 1994 and 1997, Friedman was the Vice President of Development at

Rysher Entertainment Rysher Entertainment, Inc. was an American film and television production company and distributor. It has its roots dating back to 1949 as Bing Crosby Productions, and was best known for the sitcom '' Hogan's Heroes'' and the medical drama '' B ...

, where she oversaw the production of approximately ten feature films annually as well as extensive television programming. In 1995, Friedman was the co-producer of the Warner Brothers release '' It Takes Two''. In 1996 she was associate producer of ''

House Arrest In justice and law, house arrest (also called home confinement, home detention, or, in modern times, electronic monitoring) is a measure by which a person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted, if al ...

''; executive producer of ''

Foxfire Foxfire, also called fairy fire and chimpanzee fire, is the bioluminescence created by some species of fungi present in decaying wood. The bluish-green glow is attributed to a luciferase, an oxidative enzyme, which emits light as it reacts with ...

''; executive producer of the family film ''

Zeus and Roxanne ''Zeus and Roxanne'' is a 1997 American children's film, family adventure film directed by George T. Miller. It revolves around the friendship between the title characters Zeus and Roxanne, a dog and a dolphin, respectively, and the relationships ...

''; and associate producer of the independent film '' Aberration'', which was released by

LIVE Entertainment Artisan Entertainment (formerly known as U.S.A. Home Video, International Video Entertainment (IVE) and LIVE Entertainment) was an American film studio and home video company. It was considered one of the largest mini-major film studios until ...

. Between 1998 and 1999, Friedman was the Vice President of Development at Cort/Madden Company. Since 2000, Friedman has owned and managed a small business (PlanetGlass.net), a web-based

art glass Art glass is a subset of glass art, this latter covering the whole range of art made from glass. Art glass normally refers only to pieces made since the mid-19th century, and typically to those purely made as sculpture or decorative art, with no ...

dealership. In April 2011, Friedman became the mayor of

Glendale, California Glendale is a city in the San Fernando Valley and Verdugo Mountains regions of Los Angeles County, California, United States. At the 2020 U.S. Census the population was 196,543, up from 191,719 at the 2010 census, making it the fourth-larges ...

California State Assembly

After serving seven years on the Glendale City Council, including a term as the Mayor of Glendale, Laura Friedman was elected to the California State Assembly in 2016. During her first term in office, Laura authored a package of bills to establish landmark water efficiency standards, strengthen environmental sustainability, improve access to higher education, health care, and transportation alternatives, and create new avenues for communities to tackle the affordable housing crisis. In addition, she secured $20 million in funding for the completion of the Glendale Riverwalk Project, which for the first time will provide a safe bicycle and pedestrian connection from Glendale to Griffith Park. She has been tapped for several leadership roles in the legislature and currently serves as the Assistant Speaker pro Tempore for the Assembly and the Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship. As the Chair of the Joint Rules Subcommittee on Sexual Harassment Prevention and Response, she's led a historic bicameral and bipartisan reform of the legislature's response to sexual harassment that's become a model for other states and local governments. She also introduced the California legislative bill, AB-44, which made the sale and manufacture of new fur products illegal in California. It was signed into law by Governor

Gavin Newsom Gavin Christopher Newsom (born October 10, 1967) is an American politician and businessman who has been the 40th governor of California since 2019. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as the 49th lieutenant governor of California f ...

on October 12, 2019, in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

. On September 7, she delayed the release of $4 billion of voter approved bonds for the California High Speed Rail, stating that the California High Speed Rail Authority has "not provided us any real details about what the money would go towards this year". The CHSRA Chief Financial Officer, Brian Annis, countered by stating that the CHSRA already presented to the legislature the expenditure plan in February 2021 and that this delayed release by Friedman could cause budget delays to snowball.

Electoral history

2016

2018

2020

Personal life

Born to a

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

family, Friedman was raised in South Florida. She earned a Bachelor of Arts from the

University of Rochester The University of Rochester (U of R, UR, or U of Rochester) is a private research university in Rochester, New York. The university grants undergraduate and graduate degrees, including doctoral and professional degrees. The University of ...

in New York. She is married to Guillaume Lemoine, a professional landscape designer. The couple has a daughter, Rachel, born in 2013.

References

External links

*
City of Glendale, CA : Glendale Mayors

Official Laura Friedman For State Assembly 2016 Website

Laura Friedman at ballotpedia.org

Join California Laura Friedman
{{DEFAULTSORT:Friedman, Laura Living people Mayors of Glendale, California Women mayors of places in California Businesspeople from California University of Rochester alumni 1966 births Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly Women state legislators in California 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians Candidates in the 2024 United States House of Representatives elections