Josh Becker (April 13, 1969) is an American politician currently 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 13th Senate District, which encompasses most of San Mateo County and the northern part of Santa Clara County. Prior to being elected to the State Senate in November 2020, he was initiator of the Full Circle community organization and the CEO of Lex Machina.

Early life and education

Becker attended

Williams College Williams College is a Private college, private liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Williamstown, Massachusetts. It was established as a men's college in 1793 with funds from the estate of Ephraim Williams, a col ...

and

Stanford University Stanford University, officially Leland Stanford Junior University, is a private research university in Stanford, California. The campus occupies , among the largest in the United States, and enrolls over 17,000 students. Stanford is consider ...

. During his time as a Stanford student, he cofounded a program called the Stanford Board Fellows, which trained students to serve in local nonprofit organizations and in social progress. He graduated from the university with a JD–MBA degree in 1999.

Career

A year after he graduated from the university, Becker established the Full Circle community organization. The organization funds nonprofit and supported policy innovations and community organizations in economic opportunity, education, environmental sustainability and health. Becker was appointed as part of the California State Workforce Development Board and Child Care Partnership Council in San Mateo County 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 ...

. He served seven years on the board and council. After his father's death from brain cancer, Becker founded a biotech company for cancer cure research. Becker also founded New Cycle Capital. He joined

Lex Machina Lex Machina, Inc. is a company that provides legal analytics to legal professionals. It began as an IP litigation research company and is now a division of LexisNexis. The company started as a project at Stanford University within the university ...

in 2011 and as its CEO, he made the company into a nationally recognized platform. In 2020, he found a legal tech accelerator that supported legal and public policy system innovators.

California State Senate

Becker was elected to the

in the

2020 California State Senate election The 2020 California State Senate election was held on Tuesday, November 3, 2020, with the primary election scheduled for March 3, 2020. Voters in the 20 odd-numbered districts of the California State Senate elected their representatives. The e ...

. He was sworn into office on December 7, 2020, replacing Jerry Hill who was termed out. Becker appointed Bryan King as his chief of staff and Nicole Fernandez as his district director. During the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, Becker supported prioritizing teachers, early childhood educators and child care providers for early access to COVID-19 vaccinations, immediately after health care workers and vulnerable seniors. Becker is a member of the Senate Climate Workgroup and has authored multiple

climate action Climate change mitigation is action to limit climate change by reducing emissions of greenhouse gases or removing those gases from the atmosphere. The recent rise in global average temperature is mostly caused by emissions from fossil fuels b ...

bills, including one that would require more frequent reporting by electricity providers on energy sources, another that would establish an earlier

net zero Carbon neutrality is a state of net-zero carbon dioxide emissions. This can be achieved by balancing emissions of carbon dioxide with its removal (often through carbon offsetting) or by eliminating emissions from society (the transition to the " ...

goal for state agencies, and a few bills aimed at facilitating electrification.

Elections

2020 State Senate Election

References

External links

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Join California Josh Becker
{{DEFAULTSORT:Becker, Josh Democratic Party California state senators 21st-century American politicians Stanford University alumni Living people 1969 births Williams College alumni