Robert B. Presley (December 4, 1924 – September 22, 2018) was an American politician who served as a

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

State Senator A state senator is a member of a State legislature (United States), state's senate in the bicameral legislature of 49 U.S. states, or a member of the unicameral Nebraska Legislature. History There are typically fewer state senators than there ...

from 1975 to 1994.

Personal life, education, and career

Presley was born in

Tahlequah, Oklahoma Tahlequah ( ; , ) is a city in Cherokee County, Oklahoma located at the foothills of the Ozark Mountains. It is part of the Green Country region of Oklahoma and was established as a capital of the 19th-century Cherokee Nation in 1839, as p ...

in 1924. During

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

, he served in the

United States Army The United States Army (USA) is the primary Land warfare, land service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is designated as the Army of the United States in the United States Constitution.Article II, section 2, clause 1 of th ...

, and then worked with the Riverside County Sheriff's Department for 24 years, with 12 years as a Riverside County Undersheriff. Elected in 1974 on the Democratic Party ticket, Presley served in the California State Senate from 1975 to 1994 representing California's 36th State Senate district. He then ran unsuccessfully for the California's State Board of Equalization in 1994, but became Chairman of the California Youthful Offender Parole Board from 1995 to 1999, and then served as secretary of the California Youth and Adult Correctional Agency from 1999 to 2003. During this time, upon his retirement from the Legislature, Presley also served two terms as president of the California State Board of Podiatric Medicine (BPM), which in 1989 had brought in James H. Rathlesberger as executive officer. Rathlesberger was a change agent working with consumer advocates like Presley and

Jackie Speier Karen Lorraine Jacqueline Speier ( ; born May 14, 1950) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the U.S. representative for , serving in Congress from 2008 to 2023. A member of the Democratic Party, Speier represented much of the terr ...

. BPM became the first State agency to support a series of “Presley Bills” in the Legislature aiming to reform physician discipline over Medical Board resistance. Presley helped guide the BPM through legislative challenges and lent prestige to the efforts for majorities of public members on State licensing boards. The latter failed in the face of stiff resistance from professional societies and the Medical Board of California itself.Board of Podiatric Medicine Sunset Report in Brief, November 3, 1997 The Robert Presley Center for Crime and Justice Studies was established at the

University of California, Riverside The University of California, Riverside (UCR or UC Riverside) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Riverside, California, United States. It is one of the ten campuses of the University of Cali ...

in 1994, and when the County of Riverside built a new central jail in downtown Riverside, the new facility was named after him also.

References

External links

Join California Robert B. Presley
* United States Army personnel of World War II 2018 deaths 1924 births People from Tahlequah, Oklahoma Democratic Party California state senators 20th-century members of the California State Legislature Burials at Riverside National Cemetery {{california-politician-stub