Jay Obernolte

Jay Phillip Obernolte ( ; born August 18, 1970) is an American politician, businessman, and video game developer serving as the U.S. representative for since 2021. A Republican, he was previously a member of the California State Assembly representing the 33rd district. Before serving in the Assembly, Obernolte served in the city council and was the mayor of Big Bear Lake, California. He is the owner, president, and technical director of FarSight Studios, an American video game developer.

Early life and education

Obernolte was born in Chicago, Illinois, and raised in Fresno, California. He graduated as valedictorian of Edison/Computech High School in 1988. In 1992, he obtained his Bachelor of Science degree in engineering and applied science from the California Institute of Technology and in 1997, he received his Master of Science in artificial intelligence from the University of California, Los Angeles. In 2020, he was awarded a Doctorate in Public Administration from the California Baptist University with a dissertation on "Managing Budgetary Conflict Between the Executive and Legislative Branches of Government".

Career

Business

In 1990, Obernolte launched FarSight Studios, an independent developer and publisher of family-friendly video games. The company originally produced games for the Nintendo Entertainment System, and as of 2022 develops for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, Windows, macOS, iOS and Android. Notable games the studio has developed include ''Game Party'', ''Hotel for Dogs'', ''The Pinball Arcade'', and the Sega Genesis version of ''Action 52''. FarSight Studios claims Sony, Microsoft, Google, and Apple among its clients and employs 25 workers.

Politics

In 2005, Obernolte was elected to the Big Bear City Airport Board, where he served for five years. He then served as president of the board for three years and as vice president for one year.

In 2010, Obernolte was elected to Big Bear City Council, where he served as mayor. He also served on the Big Bear Lake Fire Protection Board, as director of the Mojave Desert and on the Mountain Integrated Waste JPA Board, the Mountain Area Regional Transit Authority Board, and the League of California Cities Desert-Mountain Division.

Obernolte served as State Assemblyman for California's 33rd State Assembly district, which encompasses a wide expanse of the High Desert (areas of the Mojave Desert), from the eastern fringes of the Los Angeles metropolitan area to the Nevada and Arizona borders, from 2014 to 2020. He was elected to Congress in 2020 to replace Paul Cook as representative for California's 8th congressional district, which includes Mono County, Inyo County, and the majority of land mass in San Bernardino County.

California State Assembly

In January 2016, Obernolte was elected to served on the California Legislative Technology and Innovation Caucus, which is co-chaired by Assembly members Ian Calderon and Evan Low. He also sat on the following committees: Arts, Entertainment, Sports, Tourism, and Internet Media as vice chair; Budget as vice chair; Appropriations; Budget Subcommittee 6 on Budget Process, Oversight and Program Evaluation; Budget Subcommittee 6 on Budget Process, Oversight and Program Evaluation; Utilities and Commerce; Joint Committee on Arts; and Joint Legislative Budget.

In 2016, Obernolte expressed concern over Frontier Communications's acquisition of Verizon's voice, video, data, and FiOS network, saying that the takeover "negatively affected" his constituents through poor landline telephone service.

In 2016, Obernolte introduced Assembly Bill 2341, which would provide San Bernardino and other rural counties with additional judges to resolve backlogged court systems. The bill would have shifted seats from Santa Clara and Alameda counties to the counties in San Bernardino, but died in the Senate Appropriations Committee without a hearing.

In 2017, Obernolte opposed Xavier Becerra's nomination as California Attorney General.

Obernolte said that Governor Jerry Brown's $179.45 billion budget proposal was "responsible", but expressed a preference for fixing existing programs over creating new ones. He also stated an interest in funding job skills training, improving the state's Denti-Cal program, repairing infrastructure, and working on the housing crisis. Obernolte pushed for lawmakers to limit long-term funding commitments and said the budget proposal did nothing to address the "state's out-of-control pension debts and retiree health care liabilities."

Obernolte co-authored Assembly Bill 1103, which would have allowed California bicyclists to roll through stop signs if it was safe to do so (the "Idaho stop"). The bill died in committee.

Obernolte authored Assembly Bill 1642, which would extend the deadlines to either pay the fire tax, which is a state fire prevention fee, or file a petition for redetermination from 30 days to 60 days. In July 2017, the fire fee was suspended as part of Assembly Bill 398. Obernolte opposed raising fire insurance costs, which is calculated by factors in the risk of wildfire, fuels, slope and road access for emergency vehicles.

Obernolte opposed increases in the minimum wage.

U.S. House of Representatives

Elections

2020

After Representative Paul Cook retired, Obernolte ran for and won the seat for California's 8th congressional district with 56.1% of the vote over Democratic nominee Chris Bubser. He was sworn into Congress on January 3, 2021, and appointed Freshman Class Representative to the House Republican Policy Committee.

In September 2019, after Paul Cook announced his retirement from California's 8th congressional district, Obernolte announced his candidacy. The district covers most of the High Desert of San Bernardino County and Mono and Inyo Counties.Ryan Hagen
Republican Jay Obernolte wins 8th Congressional District; foe Chris Bubser concedes
''San Bernardino Sun'' (November 10, 2021).

In February 2020, President Donald Trump endorsed Obernolte on Twitter.

In the November 2020 election, Obernolte defeated Democratic nominee Chris Bubser with 56.1% of the vote to Bubser's 43.9%.

Tenure

On January 6, 2021, Obernolte voted not to count Arizona's and Pennsylvania's electoral votes in the 2020 United States presidential election, citing unilateral changes to election law made in those states by the judiciary or executive branch rather than the state legislature. He also voted against impeaching Trump for inciting his supporters to attack the Capitol on January 6. Obernolte voted against the creation of the January 6 commission.

Obernolte's first pieces of legislation to pass the House concerned the enabling of technological advancement. His Fellowship and Traineeship for Early Career AI Researchers Act and Next Generation Computing Research and Development Act were included in the bipartisan H.R. 2225, the National Science Foundation (NSF) For the Future Act, and H.R. 3593, the Department of Energy Science for the Future Act respectively. His first standalone legislation, H.R. 3533, passed the House in September 2021. It establishes occupational series for federal positions in software development, software engineering, data science, and data management.

In February 2021, Obernolte voted against the resolution that stripped Marjorie Taylor Greene of her committee assignments for her incendiary and violent statements. In November 2021, he voted against censuring Representative Paul Gosar, who posted an edited video of himself violently attacking Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and President Biden.

In February 2021, Obernolte voted against the Equality Act, a bill that would prohibit discrimination based on gender identity and sexual orientation by amending the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Fair Housing Act to include new protections.

In March 2021, he voted against the American Rescue Plan Act.

In June 2021, Obernolte voted to repeal the Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Iraq Resolution of 2002

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