William Harold Dodd (born June 10, 1956) is an American politician who is currently serving in 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, Cal ...

. He is a

Democrat Democrat, Democrats, or Democratic may refer to: Politics *A proponent of democracy, or democratic government; a form of government involving rule by the people. *A member of a Democratic Party: **Democratic Party (United States) (D) **Democratic ...

representing the 3rd Senate District, which encompasses the northern

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

and

Delta Delta commonly refers to: * Delta (letter) (Δ or δ), a letter of the Greek alphabet * River delta, at a river mouth * D (NATO phonetic alphabet: "Delta") * Delta Air Lines, US * Delta variant of SARS-CoV-2 that causes COVID-19 Delta may also re ...

region. Prior to his election to the State Senate, Dodd 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. The A ...

representing the 4th Assembly District, which includes all or portions of Yolo, Napa, Sonoma,

Lake A lake is an area filled with water, localized in a basin, surrounded by land, and distinct from any river or other outlet that serves to feed or drain the lake. Lakes lie on land and are not part of the ocean, although, like the much large ...

, Solano, and Colusa Counties. Before serving in the Assembly, he served on the

Napa County Napa County () is a county north of San Pablo Bay located in the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 138,019. The county seat is the City of Napa. Napa County was one of the original co ...

Board of Supervisors A board of supervisors is a governmental body that oversees the operation of county government in the U.S. states of Arizona, California, Iowa, Mississippi, Virginia, and Wisconsin, as well as 16 counties in New York. There are equivalent agenc ...

Business career

Prior to his time in elected office, Dodd was President and CEO of Diversified Water Systems, Inc. In 1978, Dodd earned a degree in Business Management from

California State University, Chico California State University, Chico, or commonly, Chico State, is a public university in Chico, California. Founded in 1887, it is the second oldest campus in the California State University system. As of the fall 2020 semester, the university had ...

. During his time in the

water industry The water industry provides drinking water and wastewater services (including sewage treatment) to residential, commercial, and industrial sectors of the economy. Typically public utilities operate water supply networks. The water industry doe ...

, Dodd was active in the water quality industry's state and national trade associations. In 1985 he was elected President of the Pacific Water Quality Association and in 1994, elected to National Water Quality Association. During his tenure, the industry embraced third-party certification of

water treatment Water treatment is any process that improves the Water quality, quality of water to make it appropriate for a specific end-use. The end use may be drinking water, drinking, industrial water supply, irrigation, river flow maintenance, water recrea ...

products and

lobbied In politics, lobbying, persuasion or interest representation is the act of lawfully attempting to influence the actions, policies, or decisions of government officials, most often legislators or members of regulatory agencies. Lobbying, which ...

in Sacramento on important legislation to protect consumers. He was awarded the PWQA and WQA Hall of Fame Award, Award of Merit for work in PR and Governmental affairs.

Political career

Prior to serving in the Assembly, Bill served on the

for 14 years. He also represented the cities and county of Napa on the Metropolitan Transportation Commission including a two-year term as chairman. In addition, Dodd served as an Honorary Commander for the

60th Air Mobility Wing The 60th Air Mobility Wing (60 AMW) is the largest air mobility organization in the United States Air Force and is responsible for strategic airlift and air refueling missions around the world. It is the host unit at Travis Air Force Base in Cal ...

Travis Air Force Base Travis Air Force Base is a United States Air Force base under the operational control of the Air Mobility Command (AMC), located three miles (5 km) east of the central business district of the city of Fairfield, in Solano County, Californi ...

. Other boards and commission service included the Chair of the

Local Agency Formation Commission Local Agency Formation Commissions or LAFCOs are regional service planning agencies of the State of California. LAFCOs are located in all 58 counties and exercise regulatory and planning powers in step with their prescribed directive to oversee the ...

of Napa County, Chair of the Napa County League of Governments, Chair of the Napa County Transportation Planning Agency, and Chair of the Napa County Flood Control and Water Conservation District. During his tenure as supervisor, Dodd worked with officials and the community to improve Napa's infrastructure, foster economic development while supporting workers, and protect community services for the county's most vulnerable. Dodd helped secure nearly $100 million in funding for the

Jamison Canyon Road State Route 12 (SR 12) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California that travels in an east–west direction from State Route 116 in Sebastopol in Sonoma County to State Route 49 just north of San Andreas in Calaveras County. The rou ...

project (Highway 12) and transportation projects in the Napa, Solano and Sonoma County corridor. In 2013, having previously been a registered Republican, Dodd changed his affiliation to the Democratic Party. In explaining the change, Dodd described himself as "a fiscal conservative but I agree with the Democratic viewpoint on most social issues". He also described himself as a pragmatist who parted company with the Republicans on the Board of Supervisors due to the outright opposition of the party to any tax increases, while Dodd supported a property tax increase to raise additional revenue. In 2014 Dodd ran for the District 4 Assembly seat. After gaining the most votes in the primary, Dodd defeated

Republican Republican can refer to: Political ideology * An advocate of a republic, a type of government that is not a monarchy or dictatorship, and is usually associated with the rule of law. ** Republicanism, the ideology in support of republics or agains ...

Charlie Schaupp in a

run-off election The two-round system (TRS), also known as runoff voting, second ballot, or ballotage, is a voting method used to elect a single candidate, where voters cast a single vote for their preferred candidate. It generally ensures a majoritarian resul ...

. Dodd won the seat by a 62-38 percent margin. Dodd was named to the Transportation, Water, Parks and Wildlife, Business and Professions, Agriculture and Rules Committee. Dodd declared his candidacy for the State Senate, District 3 in July 2015 and was endorsed 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, he was elected Secretary of S ...

, Lt. 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 fr ...

, Attorney General

Kamala Harris Kamala Devi Harris ( ; born October 20, 1964) is an American politician and attorney who is the 49th vice president of the United States. She is the first female vice president and the highest-ranking female official in U.S. history, as well ...

and Secretary of State

Alex Padilla Alejandro Padilla ( ; born March 22, 1973) is an American politician serving as the junior United States senator from California since 2021. A member of the Democratic Party, Padilla served as the 30th secretary of state of California from 2015 ...

, along with the majority of members in the Senate, Assembly and local elected officials. He defeated liberal Assemblywoman

Mariko Yamada Mariko Yamada (born October 23, 1950) is a Japanese Americans, Japanese-United States, American social worker who served as the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic assemblywoman from California's 4th Assembly district from 2008 to 2014 ...

with 58% of the vote to win election to the Senate. In March 2017 Dodd coauthored California Senate Bill 649, which would remove a city's ability to control where cell towers are placed and transfer the power to the state.

Personal life

Dodd was born and raised in

, where his family had 10 acres of farmland, dedicated to growing walnuts. Dodd graduated from

in 1978, majoring in business administration. He was involved in student government, serving on the Policy Advisory Board and as president of the Inter-Fraternity Council. Dodd serves on the boards of the Queen of the Valley Hospital Foundation,

Justin-Siena High School Justin-Siena High School is a Roman Catholic preparatory school in the De La Salle Brothers, Lasallian tradition, located in Napa, California within the Roman Catholic Diocese of Santa Rosa in California. The school was created when Justin High Sc ...

, Health Care for the Poor Committee, Wolfe Center Youth Drug and Alcohol Center, Children's Health Initiative and is an honorary member of Hospice, Adult Day Services and Clinic Ole. Dodd and wife Mary reside in Napa. They have five children and eight grandchildren.

Electoral history

2014 California State Assembly

2016 California State Senate

References

External links

*
Campaign website
*
Join California Bill Dodd
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dodd, Bill 1956 births Living people 21st-century American politicians California Republicans Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly Democratic Party California state senators County supervisors in California California State University, Chico alumni People from Napa, California Democratic Party county supervisors in California