Patty Berg (born June 6, 1942) is an American politician who 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 ...

from 2002 to 2008. 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 ...

, she was elected in November 2002 to represent the 1st Assembly District, which includes

Del Norte County ), in California , seat_type = County seat , seat = Crescent City , parts_type = Largest city , parts = Crescent City , unit_pref = US , area_total_sq_mi = 1230 , area_land_sq_mi = 1006 , area_water_sq_mi = 223 , elevation_max_footnote ...

, Humboldt County,

Mendocino County Mendocino County (; ''Mendocino'', Spanish language, Spanish for "of Antonio de Mendoza, Mendoza) is a County (United States), county located on the North Coast (California), North Coast of the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United Sta ...

, Lake County, and Trinity County as well as parts of

Sonoma County Sonoma County () is a county (United States), county located in the U.S. state of California. As of the 2020 United States Census, its population was 488,863. Its county seat and largest city is Santa Rosa, California, Santa Rosa. It is to the n ...

Early life

Berg was born in

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

, and graduated from

California State University at Los Angeles California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public university in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degrees, 122 master's degrees, ...

with a bachelor's degree in Sociology & Social Welfare in 1967. She has lived in Humboldt County since the 1970s.

Local politics

Berg founded the Executive Director of the Area Agency on Aging serving Humboldt and Del Norte Counties for 19 years. While there, she grew the agency from a staff of 4 and a budget of $300,000 to 25 employees and a multimillion-dollar budget. Berg was a regional leader advocating for policy change in

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

and

Washington, DC ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan ...

on issues related to aging. In 1993, she wrote the Humboldt County Crime Prevention Plan and chaired its first Crime Commission. Berg then worked in partnership with law enforcement taking a number of steps to make local citizens safer. Berg has a history as an advocate for women's rights and a woman's right to choose. In 1982, she helped found "CHOICES" Humboldt County's first pro-choice Political Action Committee. She also developed California's first K-12 comprehensive family life education curriculum in 1980, which was implemented in 80% of Humboldt County School Districts. Patty designed and taught a course through Humboldt State University to teachers and parents who adopted the curriculum. The training module was published and distributed nationally. Berg retired from the Area Agency on Aging in 1999 and later that year, ran the campaign preventing

Wal-Mart Walmart Inc. (; formerly Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.) is an American multinational retail corporation that operates a chain of hypermarkets (also called supercenters), discount department stores, and grocery stores from the United States, headquarter ...

from building on the coast.

State Assembly

She served as Chair of the Assembly Committee on Aging and Long Term Care as well as Chair of the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture.

Post-Assembly career

Berg has filed a statement of intent to run for

California Insurance Commissioner The California insurance commissioner has been an elected executive office position in California since 1991. Prior to that time, the insurance commissioner was appointed by the governor. The officeholder is in charge of the California Departm ...

in 2010. Two other Democrats who has filed paperwork are Assemblymember Dave Jones from

Sacramento ) , image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg , mapsize = 250x200px , map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...

and Assemblymember

Hector De La Torre Hector De La Torre (born May 29, 1967) is an American politician from Los Angeles County, California who served in the California State Assembly from 2004 to 2010. A Democrat, he represented the largely Latino 50th Assembly district. Person ...

from South Gate.

External links

*State Assembly Website * https://web.archive.org/web/20070208225202/http://democrats.assembly.ca.gov/members/a01/ {{DEFAULTSORT:Berg, Patty Democratic Party members of the California State Assembly Women state legislators in California Politicians from Seattle 1942 births Living people 21st-century American politicians 21st-century American women politicians