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With special guests
Senator Ben Allen (26th District)
Speaker Anthony Rendon (63rd District)
Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager (54th District)
Assemblymember Ian Calderon (57th District)
About the Speakers
Senator Ben Allen represents the Westside, Hollywood and South Bay communities of Los Angeles County. He chairs the Senate Environmental Quality Committee and the Joint Committee on the Arts, and serves on the Committees on Natural Resources and Water, Governmental Organization, and Transportation. He also chairs the Select Committee on Aerospace and Defense. He is chair of the Jewish Caucus, and co-chair of the Environmental Caucus. His policy priorities include education, the environment, jobs and the economy, transportation, and political reform.
Ben is a former board member, and board president, of the Santa Monica-Malibu Unified School District. While in law school, he was a voting member of the University of California Board of Regents, and a judicial clerk with the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. An attorney, he worked for the law firms of Richardson & Patel LLP, and Bryan Cave LLP.
Prior to his law career, Ben worked for the National Democratic Institute for International Affairs, and then as communications director for Congressman Jose Serrano (D-NY). He is a senior fellow with the international human rights organization Humanity in Action, an Aspen Institute-Rodel Fellow, a member of the Council on Foreign Relations, and a graduate of the Jewish Federation's New Leaders Project. He has a Bachelor of Arts degree from Harvard University, where he graduated magna cum laude in History; a Masters degree in Latin American Studies from the University of Cambridge, and a Juris Doctor degree from UC Berkeley. He is fluent in Spanish.
Majority Leader Ian Calderon was elected in November 2012 to represent California’s 57th
assembly District, becoming the first millennial elected to the State Legislature.
A product of the 57th District, prior to his election to the Assembly, Ian worked as a field representative for the Legislature, which allowed him to assist residents in his community to navigate state and local government.
In March 2016, Ian became the youngest Majority Leader in the history of the state of California. As Majority Leader, Ian has led the Assembly to pass landmark legislation, such as raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour by 2022 and reducing greenhouse gas emissions. He is particularly proud of legislation he authored that allows terminally ill Californians to attempt experimental treatments to try to save their own lives.
Majority Leader Calderon currently serves as the Chair of the Select Committee on Technological Advances, Co-Chair of the Legislative Technology and Innovation Caucus, and Co-Chair of the Legislative Millennial Caucus. He is a member of the Insurance Committee, Appropriations Committee, Accountability and Administrative Review Committee, Privacy and Consumer Protection Committee, and the Elections and Redistricting Committee.
In recognition of his work to foster innovation in California, Majority Leader Ian Calderon was named Legislator of the Year by TechNet, received the Internet Champion Award from the Internet Association, and was named TechAmerica’s 2014 California Tech Champion, as well as the 2016 CompTia California Tech Champion. A staunch supporter of arts education, Ian received the California Association of Museums’ 2015 President’s Award and was named a Legislative Arts Champion by Californians for the Arts.
Ian graduated from California State University Long Beach where he earned a degree in Political Science with a minor in Communications. He resides in Whittier with his wife Elise and their daughters, Charlie Nicole and Hartley James, and their newborn son, Crew Colson.
Assemblymember Sydney Kamlager represents the 54th Assembly District in Los Angeles. Born and raised in Chicago, Sydney moved to Los Angeles to attend the University of Southern California where she earned a bachelor’s degree in political science. She later earned her master’s degree in arts management and public policy from Carnegie Mellon University in Pennsylvania.
Sydney was exposed to politics while working with her grandmother to elect Harold Washington as the first African American mayor of Chicago in 1983. In 1992, while studying at USC, the Los Angeles riots broke out. She was then motivated to work at Rebuild LA, a nonprofit formed to spur job creation efforts and restore the communities most affected by the riots. She also worked at the Los Angeles Festival, using art to help the city heal. She spent the next 20 years working in many fields, including nonprofits, entertainment, education, and government. Prior to joining the State Legislature, Sydney was president of the Los Angeles Community College District Board of Trustees and district director to CA State Senator Holly J. Mitchell.
Speaker Anthony Rendon, a Los Angeles native, was elected in 2012 and represents the 63rd Assembly District in Southeast Los Angeles County.
The son of working-class parents and grandson of Mexican immigrants, Rendon attended Cerritos Community College and California State University, Fullerton and earned a Ph.D. from the University of California, Riverside. Prior to serving in the Assembly, Rendon was an educator, non-profit executive director, and environmental activist.
Under Rendon’s leadership, the Assembly has conducted some of the most progressive and productive legislative sessions in memory. Among the Assembly’s accomplishments are the restoration of funding for early childhood education, a landmark $52 billion transportation funding plan, extension of California’s climate change reduction and clean air goals, the nation’s first $15 minimum wage, historic changes to law enforcement use of force rules, expanded worker protections, and restrictions on predatory lending.
Rendon currently resides in Lakewood with his wife Annie and daughter, Vienna.