Jennifer Ann Oropeza (September 27, 1957 – October 20, 2010) was the
California State Senator
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.
...
for the 28th district which included the cities of
Carson
Carson may refer to:
People
*Carson (surname), people with the surname
*Carson (given name), people with the given name
Places
;In the United States
* Carson, California, a city
* Carson Township, Fayette County, Illinois
*Carson, Iowa, a city
* ...
,
El Segundo,
Hermosa Beach
Hermosa Beach (''Hermosa'', Spanish for "Beautiful") is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California, United States. Its population was 19,728 at the 2020 U.S. Census. The city is located in the South Bay region of th ...
,
Lomita
Lomita (Spanish for "Little hill") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States. The population was 20,921 at the 2020 census, up from 20,256 at the 2010 census.
History
The Spanish Empire had expanded into this area when the ...
,
Manhattan Beach,
Redondo Beach, and
Torrance; the Los Angeles communities of
Cheviot Hills
The Cheviot Hills (), or sometimes The Cheviots, are a range of uplands straddling the Anglo-Scottish border between Northumberland and the Scottish Borders. The English section is within the Northumberland National Park. The range includes T ...
,
Bel Air,
Harbor City
Harbor City is a highly diverse neighborhood in the Harbor region of Los Angeles, California, with a population upward of 36,000 people. Originally part of the Rancho San Pedro Spanish land grant, the Harbor City was brought into Los Angeles as ...
,
Harbor Gateway
The Harbor Gateway is a in the Los Angeles Harbor Region, in the southern part of the city. The neighborhood is narrow and long, running along a north-south axis. Its unusual shape has given it the alternative name of "the Shoestring Strip". T ...
,
Lennox,
Mar Vista
Mar Vista is a neighborhood on the Westside of Los Angeles, California. In 1927, Mar Vista became the 70th community to be annexed to Los Angeles. It was designated as an official city neighborhood in 2006.
History
Mar Vista was called Ocean Par ...
,
Marina del Rey
Marina del Rey (Spanish for "Marina of the King") is an unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California, with an eponymous harbor that is a major boating and water recreation destination of the greater Los Angeles area. The p ...
,
Palms,
Playa del Rey
Playa del Rey (Spanish for "Beach of the King") is a seaside community in the Santa Monica Bay and the Westside region of Los Angeles, California. It has a ZIP code of 90293 and area codes of 310 and 424. As of 2018, the community had a populat ...
,
Rancho Park
Rancho Park is a residential neighborhood in the Westside of the city of Los Angeles, California with mostly single family homes and tree lined streets. The community is nestled between West Los Angeles and Cheviot Hills. This enclave draws young ...
,
San Pedro,
West Los Angeles
West Los Angeles is an area within the city of Los Angeles, California. The residential and commercial neighborhood is divided by the Interstate 405 freeway, and each side is sometimes treated as a distinct neighborhood, mapped differently by di ...
,
Westchester,
Wilmington and
Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
; and part of the city of
Long Beach
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California.
Incorporate ...
. (In 2012, as part of an overall redrawing of California district lines, this jurisdiction was redistricted into portions of both Districts 26 and 33.)
Oropeza was elected to her first term 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 ...
in November 2006 and garnered 62 percent of the vote. She died less than two weeks before the
November 2, 2010 election, in which she had been expected to easily win reelection. Her name remained on the ballot in the 28th Senate District. Oropeza posthumously won reelection on November 2, 2010.
She 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 ...
for the six years (2000–2006) prior to her time in the Senate.
Education
Oropeza graduated from
Alhambra High School in 1975 and went on to earn a bachelor's degree in Business Administration from California State University, Long Beach. She began her career in public service as the first Latina student body president, and the first to serve two terms, at
California State University, Long Beach
California State University, Long Beach (CSULB) is a public research university in Long Beach, California. The 322-acre campus is the second largest of the 23-school California State University system (CSU) and one of the largest universities i ...
. While still in college, she was appointed by then-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 ...
to the
CSU
CSU may refer to:
* Channel service unit, a Wide area network equivalent of a network interface card
* Chari Aviation Services, Chad, by ICAO airline code
* Christian Social Union (UK), an Anglican social gospel organisation
* Christian Social Un ...
system's
Board of Trustees
A board of directors (commonly referred simply as the board) is an executive committee that jointly supervises the activities of an organization, which can be either a for-profit or a nonprofit organization such as a business, nonprofit organiz ...
and served as the student member of the board.
Early political career
Oropeza was the first Latina to serve as a member of the Long Beach Unified School District Board of Education and held office from 1988 to 1994. In 1994, she was elected the first
Latina
Latina or Latinas most often refers to:
* Latinas, a demographic group in the United States
* Latino (demonym), a term used in the United States for people with cultural ties to Latin America.
*Latin Americans
Latina and Latinas may also refer ...
member of the
Long Beach City Council
The Long Beach City Council is the governing body of the City of Long Beach, California
Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020 ...
and won re-election in 1998. As an
MTA board member from 1996 through 2000, Oropeza represented the southeast cities of
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...
and served on MTA's Planning and Programming and Construction committees. While with the MTA, she also chaired the Goods Movement Committee of the
Southern California Association of Governments
The Southern California Association of Governments (SCAG) is the Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) of six of the ten counties in Southern California, serving Imperial County, Los Angeles County, Orange County, Riverside County, San Bern ...
.
Assembly Member
Oropeza was a member of 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 ...
from 2000 to 2006 for the 55th Assembly District. In January 2002, with barely a year's experience in the Assembly, Oropeza was named chair of the Assembly Budget Committee — on the eve of the worst deficit in California history. She served two years. From 2004 to 2006, Oropeza chaired the Assembly Transportation Committee.
She was Vice Chair of the dual-house Latino Caucus. In 2005, the
League of California Cities
The League of California Cities is an association of cities within the state of California, founded in 1898. Most of the state's 482 cities are represented in the league. The League publishes ''Western City'', a monthly magazine, and holds an annu ...
' Latino Caucus named her Legislator of the Year; in 2006, the Los Angeles
League of Conservation Voters
The League of Conservation Voters (LCV) is an American environmental advocacy group. LCV says that it "advocates for sound environmental laws and policies, holds elected officials accountable for their votes and actions, and elects pro-environmen ...
awarded her the Smith-Weiss Environmental Champion Award for her work on issues from air pollution and cancer prevention to radiation and environmental advocacy. She long supported transportation improvements, including Proposition 42 in 2002, which sought to dedicate a portion of gasoline taxes toward construction.
California State Senate
Run for the State Senate
On June 6, 2006, Oropeza won a very close Democratic primary against former Assembly member
George Nakano
George Nakano (born November 24, 1935) served as a California State Assemblyman for the 53rd district from 1998 until 2004. During his time in the Assembly, Nakano was chosen to serve as the chairman of the Democratic caucus. In 2006, Nakano sou ...
. Oropeza was endorsed by the
California Democratic Party
The California Democratic Party is the affiliate of the Democratic Party in the U.S. state of California. It is headquartered in Sacramento.
With 43.5% of the state's registered voters as of 2018, the Democratic Party has the highest number of r ...
and the
California League of Conservation Voters
California Environmental Voters (also called EnviroVoters), formerly the California League of Conservation Voters (CLCV), is a lobbying and educational organization which focuses on environmental issues affecting California. It is affiliated with ...
. Nakano had been endorsed by
Congresswoman
A Member of Congress (MOC) is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The term member of parliament (MP) is an equivalen ...
Jane Harman
Jane Margaret Lakes Harman (born June 28, 1945) is the former U.S. Representative for , serving from 1993 to 1999, and from 2001 to 2011; she is a member of the Democratic Party. Harman was the ranking Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee ...
and California Assemblyman
Ted Lieu
Ted W. Lieu (; born March 29, 1969) is an American politician and Air Force Reserve Command colonel who has represented California's 33rd congressional district in the U.S. House of Representatives since 2015. The district includes much of weste ...
. Oropeza captured 52.8% of the vote to Nakano's 47.2%.
Committees and caucuses
Oropeza chaired the Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee and was a member of the Appropriations; Transportation; and Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments Committees. She also chaired the
Select Committees
Select or SELECT may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
* ''Select'' (album), an album by Kim Wilde
* ''Select'' (magazine), a British music magazine
* ''MTV Select'', a television program
* ''Select Live'', New Zealand's C4 music program ...
on Integrity of Elections, and Public Health and the Environment. She was a member of the Select Committees on the
Alameda Corridor
The Alameda Corridor is a freight rail "expressway" owned by the Alameda Corridor Transportation Authority that connects the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach with the transcontinental mainlines of the BNSF Railway and the Union Pacific Rail ...
and
Asian Pacific Affairs. In addition, she was a member of the Senate Appropriations
Subcommittee
A committee or commission is a body of one or more persons subordinate to a deliberative assembly. A committee is not itself considered to be a form of assembly. Usually, the assembly sends matters into a committee as a way to explore them more ...
on Fiscal Oversight and Bonded Indebtedness, the Senate Subcommittee on California Ports and Goods Movement, as well as the Streamlined Sales Tax Project board of governance and the Commission on the Status of Women. As one of 26 Latinos in the Legislature, Oropeza chaired the California Latino Caucus Policy Committee on
Environmental Justice
Environmental justice is a social movement to address the unfair exposure of poor and marginalized communities to harms from hazardous waste, resource extraction, and other land uses.Schlosberg, David. (2007) ''Defining Environmental Justic ...
.
Legislation
Upon election to the State Senate, Oropeza introduced 24 bills. The policy areas ranged from preventing
smoking
Smoking is a practice in which a substance is burned and the resulting smoke is typically breathed in to be tasted and absorbed into the bloodstream. Most commonly, the substance used is the dried leaves of the tobacco plant, which have bee ...
in cars while minors are present (SB 7) to increasing the efforts of the
California State Controller
The state controller of California is a constitutional office in the executive branch of the government of the U.S. state of California. Thirty-two individuals have held the office of state controller since statehood. The incumbent is Betty Yee, a ...
to contact the owners of
unclaimed property
Lost, mislaid, and abandoned property are categories of the common law of property which deals with personal property or chattel which has left the possession of its rightful owner without having directly entered the possession of another person. ...
(SB 920). She introduced legislation in the areas of local sales,
massage therapy
Massage is the manipulation of the body's soft tissues. Massage techniques are commonly applied with hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearms, feet or a device. The purpose of massage is generally for the treatment of body stress or pain. In Eu ...
,
teacher credentials, and
air pollution
Air pollution is the contamination of air due to the presence of substances in the atmosphere that are harmful to the health of humans and other living beings, or cause damage to the climate or to materials. There are many different types ...
in
ports
A port is a maritime facility comprising one or more wharves or loading areas, where ships load and discharge cargo and passengers. Although usually situated on a sea coast or estuary, ports can also be found far inland, such as Ham ...
.
Death
In 2004 Oropeza was treated for liver cancer. She was admitted to
Long Beach Memorial Medical Center
MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center (LBMC), formerly known as Long Beach Memorial Medical Center, is a hospital in Long Beach, California. It is the flagship hospital of the MemorialCare Health System. The hospital is accredited by the Joint C ...
for difficulty breathing, but later died there the evening of October 20, 2010. She had been undergoing treatment for a blood clot in her abdomen since May 2010. Oropeza was survived by her husband Tom Mullins, mother Sharon, sister Lynne, and brother John.
Legacy
Since her death, Oropeza has been honored by the Democratic Women's Study Club in Long Beach (the oldest continually meeting chartered Democratic club in America), which posthumously awarded her the Political Leadership Award, which is now named the Jenny Oropeza Political Leadership Award. Centro CHA in Long Beach posthumously awarded Oropeza th
Create Change Community Service Excellence Award now known as the Create Change: Jenny Oropeza Community Service Excellence Award. The Long Beach Lambda Democratic Club created th
which like the other two awards, was first given in 2011.
As a tribute to Oropeza's dedication to fostering protections for key California-state public health programs, the Los Angeles County Affiliate of
Susan G. Komen for the Cure
Susan G. Komen (formerly known as Susan G. Komen for the Cure; originally as The Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer Foundation; often simply as Komen) is a breast cancer organization in the United States.
Komen focuses on patient navigation and advo ...
, in joint collaboration with the six other California-based Komen Affiliates ("the California Collaborative"), established th
Senator Jenny Oropeza Public Policy Internship position
The Senator Jenny Oropeza Memorial Scholarship was established after her death, and is awarded annually at California State University, Long Beach to a student who is committed to a career in public service.
![Jenny Oropeza Community Center Dedication Plaque](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/46/Jenny_Oropeza_Community_Center_Dedication_Plaque.jpg)
On March 31, 2011 (birthday of Cesar E. Chavez), the City of Long Beach renamed the community center in Cesar E. Chavez Park the '
Jenny Oropeza Community Center''. During her time in the Assembly, Jenny fought hard to develop and name the park in honor of labor leader and civil rights activist
Cesar Chavez
Cesar Chavez (born Cesario Estrada Chavez ; ; March 31, 1927 – April 23, 1993) was an American labor leader and civil rights activist. Along with Dolores Huerta, he co-founded the National Farm Workers Association (NFWA), which later merged ...
.
On December 8, 2011 the
Los Angeles Unified School District
Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) is a public school district in Los Angeles, California, United States. It is the largest public school system in California in terms of number of students and the 2nd largest public school district in ...
dedicated the Jenny Oropeza Global Studies Academy. The Academy is one of four academies at the Rancho Dominguez
Preparatory School.
![Fullsizeoutput 11e5](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Fullsizeoutput_11e5.jpg)
In August 2012, in recognition of Oropeza's work to find the necessary funds to finance completion of a critical section of the Alameda Corridor project that had run out of money, the California Legislature approved the naming of the '
Honorable Jenny Oropeza Memorial Overcrossing'' for the section of Pacific Coast Highway in
Wilmington that created the bridge that spans the Alameda Corridor. Oropeza successfully worked with Federal, State and local government entities, as well as the railroads and Metropolitan Transportation Authority to find the funds to construct this last and critical portion of the project.
On April 21, 2014,
State Senator Ricardo Lara introduced Senate
Concurrent Resolution
A concurrent resolution is a resolution (a legislative measure) adopted by both houses of a bicameral legislature that lacks the force of law (is non-binding) and does not require the approval of the chief executive (president). Concurrent resoluti ...
115 that would designate the
portion of Interstate 710 Highway (known as the Long Beach Freeway) that runs between Pico Avenue and West Wardlow Road in the City of Long Beach as the Senator Jenny Oropeza Memorial Freeway. This legislation has yet to be completed.
![Dedication Jenny Oropeza Elementary School Ceremony 16-1128](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/6/61/Dedication_Jenny_Oropeza_Elementary_School_Ceremony_16-1128.jpg)
In 2016, the
Long Beach Unified School District
The Long Beach Unified School District is a school district headquartered in Long Beach, California, United States.
Established in 1885, Long Beach Unified School District now
educates 81,000 students in 84 public schools in the cities of
Lon ...
Board of Education unanimously approved name changes for three schools, including International Elementary to be renamed Jenny Oropeza Elementary School, in honor of the former Long Beach Unified School District board member, Long Beach city councilwoman, state assemblywoman and state senator. The dedication ceremony took place on November 28, 2016. Oropeza, who died in 2010 at age 53, was the first Latina to serve on the Long Beach USD school board and the city council.
References
External links
*
Join California Jenny Oropeza*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Oropeza, Jenny
1957 births
2010 deaths
Democratic Party California state senators
Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly
Women state legislators in California
American politicians of Mexican descent
People from Long Beach, California
California State University, Long Beach alumni
Hispanic and Latino American state legislators in California
Hispanic and Latino American women in politics
Politicians elected posthumously
Deaths from cancer in California
21st-century American politicians
21st-century American women politicians
California city council members
Women city councillors in California
Smoking in the United States