Candidate for
Member; California State Assembly; District 16; Democratic Party

Wilma Chan represents the cities of Oakland, Alameda and Piedmont in the California State Assembly. Ms. Chan's legislative priorities include health care, senior services, early childhood education, environmental health and sustainable economic development. Ms. Chan is the Assembly Majority Floor Whip and is a member of the Assembly Committees on Health; Aging and Long Term Care; Public Employees, Retirement and Social Security; Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy and Banking and Finance. Chan is Chair of the Select Committee on California Children's School Readiness and Health.

Last year Chan authored a new law to encourage counties to build school partnerships by donating surplus computers to schools. She led the successful legislative effort making permanent food stamps and cash assistance to low-income legal immigrant families and seniors and sent the Governor legislation to encourage in-fill housing and new retail in downtown Oakland. Ms. Chan carried legislation to phase-out birth defect and cancer causing chemicals in California. She won approval for a study to determine the best way to provide in home support services to all California seniors and people with disabilities on a sliding fee scale.

Chan worked on behalf of the district, obtaining funding for:

• renovation of Buena Vista Park in the San Antonio neighborhood
• new displays for the African American Museum and Library in Oakland
• maintenance of services at Alameda's Woodstock Child Development Center
• planning a walking path between Lake Merritt and the Bay Trail
• making the play area at Roberts Regional Park accessible for disabled children

Chan also convened the Assembly Select Committee on California Children's School Readiness and Health and held the first state hearings on the link between a child's health and school success.

Assemblywoman Chan has been honored by the California Hunger Action Network, Alameda County Tobacco Control Coalition and the Soroptimists among others. The Alameda Rotary gave her the Paul Harris award. Before winning election to the Assembly in 2000,

Ms. Chan was elected to the Board of Supervisors in 1994 and re-elected without opposition in 1998. On the Board of Supervisors, Ms. Chan chaired the Health Committee and served as a member of the Budget Committee and the Personnel, Administration and Legislative Committee. Ms. Chan was the first Chair of the Alameda County Children and Families Commission, which is distributing $20 million in new funds for the children's services. Rob Reiner, Chair of the state Children and Families Commission called Alameda County's Commission the 'crown jewel' because of its comprehensive approach to early childhood development.

Her accomplishments at the Board of Supervisors included expanding the number of school-based health clinics to 7, working with local officials to gain release of 220 acres of the Alameda Naval Air Station land for local needs, leading lobbying efforts to restore benefits to legal immigrants, championing efforts to build a new Emergency Room and Critical Care Building for the Alameda County Medical Center, Highland Hospital - Oakland Campus, initiating a pilot welfare-to-work project in Oakland's San Antonio neighborhood and developing the strategic plan on the future of health care services in Alameda County.

Ms. Chan holds a BA from Wellesley and a Masters Degree in Education Policy from Stanford. She lives in Alameda with her husband, a public school educator and her daughter. Her son is a student at UC San Diego.