In 2002 Assemblymember John Laird was elected to represent the 27^th Assembly District, which includes portions of Santa Cruz , Monterey and Santa Clara Counties .  He was re-elected in 2004, and in his 2006 re-election he received over 70% of the vote.

In his first Assembly term, Mr. Laird was one of only five first-term members to chair a major policy committee, the Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials Committee.  He also served as chair of the Special Committee on State Mandates and chair of the Select Committee on California Water Needs and Climate Change.

At the start of his second term in 2004, Mr. Laird was named by Assembly Speaker Fabian Núñez to join the Assembly leadership team as chair of the Budget Committee, a position to which Speaker Nunez reappointed him in December 2006.

As Budget Committee Chair in 2006, Mr. Laird helped deliver the first on-time budget since 2000, a budget that reduced community college fees, restored funding for transportation and K-12 education, dramatically increased funding for deferred park maintenance and foster care, and increased the budget reserve while reducing the so-called “out year” deficit. Along with the Budget Committee, Mr. Laird serves as a member the Labor and Employment, Judiciary, and Natural Resources Committees.

During Mr. Laird’s tenure, he has authored a wide range of bills signed into law—to establish the landmark Sierra Nevada Conservancy, restore community college health services, expand and clarify state civil rights protections, and assist programs for first-time homebuyers in Santa Cruz and Monterey Counties .  In the 2006 session, he successfully authored bills to provide new protections for sea otters, help build a new veterans cemetery at the former Fort Ord , provide pay increases for park rangers and fish and game wardens, and support local affordable housing trusts.

Raised in Vallejo and educated in Vallejo public schools, Mr. Laird's parents both were educators. He graduated from UCSC's Adlai Stevenson College .  He served on the congressional district staff of U. S. Rep. Jerome Waldie, was an analyst for the Santa Cruz County Administrative Officer, and was Executive Director of the Santa Cruz AIDS Project.

In 1981, Mr. Laird was elected to a seat on the Santa Cruz City Council and served nine years until term limits ended his council service in 1990. He was elected by the City Council to one-year mayor's terms in 1983 and 1987, becoming one of the first openly gay mayors in the United States .  He served as an elected member of the Cabrillo College Board of Trustees from 1994 to his election to the Assembly in 2002.

John Laird lives in Santa Cruz with his partner John Flores. He is fluent in Spanish, has traveled widely, has conducted extensive family history research and is a life-long Chicago Cubs fan.

Updated: Monday, December 11, 2006