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William Wheeler Monning (born April 2, 1951) is an American politician who was elected to the
California State Senate The California State Senate is the upper house of the California State Legislature (the lower house being the California State Assembly). The state senate convenes, along with the state assembly, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. ...
in 2012. A Democrat, he served in the 17th Senate District which encompasses the Central Coast. Monning was reelected to the Senate in 2016 for a second and final term ending in November, 2020. Education, the environment and public health are areas of particular interest to Monning. Before his election to the State Senate in 2012, Monning served 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, Califor ...
, representing the 27th Assembly District.


Early life and education

Bill Monning was born and raised in Southern California. He attended Flintridge Preparatory School from fifth to twelfth grade and participated in athletics including football, basketball, baseball and swimming. His college years were spent in the San Francisco Bay Area where he attended the
University of California, Berkeley The University of California, Berkeley (UC Berkeley, Berkeley, Cal, or California), is a Public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Berkeley, California, United States. Founded in 1868 and named after t ...
from 1969 to 1972 and the
University of San Francisco School of Law The University of San Francisco School of Law (USF Law) is the law school of the private University of San Francisco. Established in 1912, it received American Bar Association accreditation in 1935 and joined the Association of American La ...
from 1973 to 1976. During this time he also did volunteer work for the
United Farm Workers The United Farm Workers of America, or more commonly just United Farm Workers (UFW), is a labor union for farmworkers in the United States. It originated from the merger of two workers' rights organizations, the National Farm Workers Associatio ...
legal department and participated in marches and other activities with farm workers' movements in Delano, Salinas and
Modesto Modesto ( ; ) is the county seat and largest city of Stanislaus County, California, United States. With a population of 218,069 according to 2022 U.S. Census Bureau estimates, it is the 19th-most populous city in California. Modesto is locate ...
, meeting other activists including Jerry Cohen, Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta. These experiences with the UFW were influential, "working with the legal department as a volunteer . . . really solidified my interest and purpose in attending law school." Monning received a B.A. at the University of California, Berkeley and a J.D. degree from the University of San Francisco School of Law. He served as a Senior Fulbright Specialist, receiving
Fulbright The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people ...
scholarships to teach and research in Peru and Chile. Additionally, he was a member of the Monterey County Court-directed mediation panel and served for four years as executive director of the
Nobel Peace Prize The Nobel Peace Prize (Swedish language, Swedish and ) is one of the five Nobel Prizes established by the Will and testament, will of Sweden, Swedish industrialist, inventor, and armaments manufacturer Alfred Nobel, along with the prizes in Nobe ...
winning organization, International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War.


Career as attorney

After entering the California State Bar, Monning first worked as a staff attorney for the United Farm Workers of America,
AFL-CIO The American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO) is a national trade union center that is the largest federation of unions in the United States. It is made up of 61 national and international unions, together r ...
(1976–1978). He then became Directing Attorney for
California Rural Legal Assistance California Rural Legal Assistance, Inc. (CRLA) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit legal service organization created to help California's low-income individuals and communities. CRLA represents all types of individuals and communities, including farmworke ...
, Migrant Farm Worker Project (1978–1982). From 1982 through 1987 Monning was the Director of the Salvadoran Medical Relief Fund, and from 1987 through 1991 he was executive director for the International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW). From 1993 until his election to the State Assembly in 2008 he worked in private practice (Labor and Employment law) and taught at both the
Monterey Institute of International Studies Established in 1955, the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey (MIIS), formerly the Monterey Institute of International Studies, located in Monterey, California, is a graduate institute and satellite campus of Middlebury C ...
(currently Middlebury Institute of International Studies) as professor of International Negotiation and Conflict Resolution and as a professor at the Monterey College of Law. Monning is also the former president and co-founder of Global Majority, Inc.


Career as politician

In 2008 Bill Monning ran for and won the California State District 27 Assembly seat being vacated by termed out John Laird. When asked in an interview with the National Lawyers Guild about why he decided to run for the Assembly in 2008, Monning cited California's structural budget limitations saying California was, "only one of three states in the union that require a 2/3 vote in both houses to pass a budget." This limitation made it difficult to secure adequate funding for such needs as healthcare and education. Monning hoped to work with community groups and other legislators to effect reform in this and other areas including electoral, campaign finance and economic justice. In 2012 Monning was elected to the California State Senate after the incumbent,
Sam Blakeslee Samuel Blakeslee (born June 25, 1955) is a former Republican California State Senator representing California's 15th State Senate district which included the counties of Santa Clara, Monterey, San Luis Obispo, Santa Cruz and Santa Barbara. H ...
, R-San Luis Obispo, chose not to run in the newly drawn 17th Senate district. Monning became Senate Majority leader in 2014 when he was appointed by then State Senate President pro tempore Kevin de León, D-Los Angeles. Monning was reelected to the Senate in 2016 for a second and final term. In 2016 Monning seriously considered running to fill the seat being vacated by retiring Congressmen Sam Farr but felt he could be more effective in working on climate policy and other important issues as a leader in Sacramento as opposed to being a member of the minority party in Washington. Monning served as Majority Leader of the California State Senate from 2015 to 2019. In 2019 California Senate President pro tempore
Toni Atkins Toni Gayle Atkins (born August 1, 1962) is an American politician who served as the 51st president pro tempore of the California State Senate from 2018 to 2024. A member of the Democratic Party, she previously served as the 69th speaker of the ...
appointed Monning to the California Coastal Conservancy and designated him as California State Senate Majority Leader Emeritus. He termed-out at the end of his eight years in the State Senate on November 30, 2020. He remains an active member of the
State Bar of California The State Bar of California is an administrative division of the Supreme Court of California which licenses attorneys and regulates the practice of law in California. It is responsible for managing the admission of lawyers to the practice of law ...
and does work as a mediator, trainer, and consultant.


Electoral history

Monning, Hsla-Coron, Cohen and Mason 2017.jpg, Bill Monning, Mary Hsla-Coron, Jerry Cohen and Mel Mason - panel discussion "What can we learn from 1960's activism to inform today's resistance movements?" Monning with Book.jpg, Monning with book - ''Vision for a Healthy California'' Bill Monning March for Science 2017.webm, Bill Monning
March for Science The March for Science (formerly known as the Scientists' March on Washington) was an international series of rallies and marches held on Earth Day. The inaugural march was held on April 22, 2017, in Washington, D.C., and more than 600 other cit ...
2017 Monterey, CA Bill Monning on Climate Change.webm, Recorded at a peace rally in Carmel, CA 2017


Legislation


Soda tax (SB 622)

On February 22, 2013, he introduced SB 622, which would impose a 12 cent tax on each can of soda, as well as create the Children's Health Promotion Fund, which would direct the money the tax raised to childhood obesity-preventing measures such as improving the quality of school lunches. About three months later, the bill died in committee.


Farmworker Protection

Monning authored a bill to protect California farm workers from sexual harassment and violence. Signed by Governor
Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...
on September 28, 2014, SB 1087 followed a 2013 investigation by
Univision Univision () is an American Spanish-language terrestrial television, free-to-air television network owned by TelevisaUnivision. It is the United States' largest provider of Spanish-language content. The network's programming is aimed at the L ...
, UC Berkeley's Investigative Reporting Program FRONTLINE, and the Center for Investigative Reporting. The investigation found that hundreds of female agriculture workers said they had been harassed and assaulted in the fields with minimal response from their supervisors or from law enforcement. The law took effect on January 1, 2015. "Female farmworkers are among the most vulnerable and invisible of the state's farm worker population," said Monning. " B 1087will require sexual harassment prevention training for farm labor contractors, supervisors, and employees, and is the first step to help protect these workers from unwanted sexual advances and sexual violence." Senator Monning successfully authored another bill, SB 168 in 2013, to help agricultural workers get back wages and penalties owed by state-licensed farm labor contractors. According to Monning, some California contractors had fraudulently dissolved and moved their assets to new corporations, leaving farm workers without anyone to file a claim against. "This measure is modeled after previous legislation in the garment manufacturing and car wash industries to address fraudulent successor business scams," said Monning "The workers most affected and victimized by such unscrupulous practices are farm workers."


Death with Dignity

In 2015 Monning co-sponsored, with Lois Wolk (D-Davis), SB 128, the California End of Life Option Act. The bill was modeled after Oregon's Death With Dignity Act (1994). The law authorizes adults with six months or less to live to request a doctor's prescription for life-ending medication. It passed the California Senate easily, but stalled in the Assembly. In a legislative session in September dedicated to healthcare, several amendments were introduced, and eventually the bill passed in the Assembly 42–33, and the Senate 23-14 It was co-authored by Assembly Member Susan Talamantes Eggman (D-Stockton). California governor
Jerry Brown Edmund Gerald Brown Jr. (born April 7, 1938) is an American lawyer, author, and politician who served as the 34th and 39th governor of California from 1975 to 1983 and 2011 to 2019. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic P ...
signed the California End of Life Option Act on October 5, 2015, and it went into effect on June 9, 2016. California thus became the fifth state to pass a Death With Dignity law. In a 2018 interview with the ''Monterey County Weekly'' Monning claimed that the End of Life Option Act was "one of his greatest legislative achievements". He was very moved by the testimony of terminally ill people in Sacramento, "They knew that they weren't going to be able to benefit from it (the Act), and yet they still came, facing their terminal conditions, making sure that those who followed them would have options that they didn't have".


Climate Change

Senator Monning believes climate change is the largest long-term threat to humanity and that it will also negatively affect public health and coastal communities. In the 2015–2016 legislative session Senator Monning co-authored Senate Bill 350, the Clean Energy and Pollution Reduction Act of 2015. This complex bill was intended to increase the state's energy efficiency, reduce petroleum use in vehicles and set new standards for California's Renewable Portfolio Standard (RPS). Under this bill the state of California would be required to generate half of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. The bill was signed by Governor Jerry Brown October 7, 2015. Other sponsors of the bill were primary sponsor Senator Kevin de León, Senator Loni Hancock, Senator Mark Leno, Assemblyman Das Williams and Assemblyman
Kevin McCarty Kevin Michael McCarty (born January 6, 1972) is an American politician who has served as Mayor of Sacramento since 2024. A member of the Democratic Party, he previously served in the California State Assembly from 2014 to 2024, representing t ...
.


Drinking Water Fund

Monning authored the Safe, Clean, Affordable Drinking Water Act of 2019 (SB 200) making available $1.3 billion over ten years in funding for community projects though California State Water Resources Control Board. The bill was signed into law in July 2019, making some 300 community with limited access to clean water eligible for funding to help them build or maintain new wells and water treatment facilities.


Personal life

He and his wife, Dana T. Kent, a family physician, reside in Carmel, California. They have two daughters and three grandchildren.


Bibliography

* ''Vision for a Healthy California'', Foreword by
Mike Farrell Michael Joseph Farrell Jr. (born February 6, 1939) is an American actor, best known for his role as Captain B.J. Hunnicutt on the television series '' M*A*S*H'' (1975–83). In addition, Farrell was a producer of '' Patch Adams'' (1998) starr ...
, Gui Mundo Publishing Company, 2010, * ''Voices of Change: The People's Oral History Project Interviews with Monterey County Activists and Organizers 1934–2015'', Author Gary Karnes, foreword by Senator Bill Monning, Co-authors Karen Araujo and Juan Martinez, Park Place Publications, January 15, 2016,


References


External links

*
Join California Bill Monning
{{DEFAULTSORT:Monning, Bill 1951 births American Unitarians California lawyers Democratic Party California state senators Living people Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly Politicians from Carmel-by-the-Sea, California University of California, Berkeley alumni University of San Francisco School of Law alumni 21st-century members of the California State Legislature