Lara earned his B.A. in journalism/Spanish/Chicano Studies from San Diego State University. He went on to be a master's candidate in leadership from the University of Southern California.
As someone who grew up without health insurance and knows what it’s like to de-prioritize your own health because you can’t afford to make it your top concern, Ricardo has been relentlessly motivated to ensuring that all Californians have quality and affordable healthcare.
- Authored SB 562, the landmark, revolutionary bill designed to make California the first state in the union to successfully enact a single-payer, universal healthcare system.
- Authored SB 349. The United States has the worst dialysis patient outcomes in the industrialized world. Only one in three American patients on dialysis survives for five years. California’s dialysis clinics lack sufficient oversight and are understaffed leading to unsafe and unsanitary conditions. That is why I authored SB 349, which requires, commencing January 1, 2020, chronic dialysis clinics (CDCs) to meet minimum staffing ratios at all times for nurses, technicians, social workers, and registered dieticians. SB 1174 provides the Department of Public Health (DPH) with the authority to assess an administrative penalty for violations of the bill’s provisions. If clinics dispute a determination regarding an alleged deficiency or failure to correct a deficiency, they clinic may request a hearing pursuant to Health and Safety Code.
Ricardo Lara has been committed to ensuring that all Californians have access to an affordable and quality public education, including higher education, to prepare them for today’s workforce demands.
- Authored SB 1174, which placed a successful initiative before voters to repeal provisions of Proposition 227 that have created major barriers for dual-immersion language programs. SB 1174 would then provide school districts, teachers, and parents with a process to work together to start dual-immersion, multilingual language programs.
- Authored SB 1111, which ensures that students being temporarily placed in county community schools have a successful transfer to and from those schools. Currently students who are involuntary transferred experience low academic achievement and have high dropout rates. The bill will ensure the proper considerations are made when a student is involuntarily transferred, including whether there is space for the student, if the school is geographically accessible, and if the school can meet the particular educational needs of the student. The bill also makes sure students who win their expulsion hearings are not involuntarily transferred.
- Authored SB 150, which enabled community college districts to waive nonresident tuition for high school students who concurrently enroll on a part-time basis at a California community college, enabling undocumented students to take community college classes without paying nonresident tuition.
Raised in East Los Angeles, Ricardo Lara knows firsthand what it’s like to live in some of the nation’s busiest and most polluted transportation corridors. Ricardo, who was part of the California legislative delegation at the U.N. COP21 Paris Climate Conference in 2015 and the COP23 Germany Climate Conference in 2017, has emerged as one of the most effective California environmental champions by consistently passing laws that improve health conditions and rein in air pollution.
- Authored SB 605 in 2014, which required the Air Resources Board to develop a short-lived climate pollutant strategy. Short-lived climate pollutants have been proven to warm the earth more quickly than traditional greenhouse gases and are a significant impediment to public health– especially in disadvantaged communities.
- Authored Super Pollutant Reduction Act (SB 1383), which set the nation’s toughest standards to slash emissions of black carbon, methane, and fluorinated gases. These dangerous pollutants have a disproportionate impact on our climate, agriculture, and human health.
- In 2014, Governor Brown signed SB 712, a bill Ricardo authored that forced hazardous waste-producing facilities to come into compliance with safety standards within a specific timetable. Ricardo has authored legislation that requires chemical companies to disclose the ingredients in household cleaners, and taken a number of steps to make California’s consumers better informed about potential dangers to themselves and to the environment.
Dubbed by the Los Angeles Times as the "Point man in the push for immigrant rights," Ricardo Lara has been dedicated to uplifting immigrant communities and solidifying their basic human rights in the State Legislature.
- Authored SB 1210 (DREAM Loan Program), which created the Dream Loan Program for low-income, undocumented students attending the University of California and the California State University, who lack access to federal and private loans. This bill enabled undocumented to students to finish their studies and contribute to our state’s economy.
- Authored SB 4 (Health for All Kids Act), which enabled undocumented children to receive the proper healthcare they need.
- Authored SB 974, which provides MediCal for undocumented adults that cannot afford to pay for their own insurance.
In the State Legislature, Ricardo Lara has been committed to challenging mass incarceration and the school to prison pipeline, working tirelessly to ensure that California’s criminal justice system is more fair just.
- Authored SB 393 (Consumer Arrest Record Equity Act), which seals arrest records and removes barriers to employment and housing for those arrested but not convicted of a crime. A recent study found that nearly 40% of men and 20% of women are arrested before age 23, yet many are never convicted. It also updates criminal records at both local and state levels so that credit reporting agencies and the California Department of Justice do not disseminate sealed arrest information.
- Authored SB 394, which brings California into compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court Montgomery v. Louisiana decision that juveniles cannot be sentenced to life without parole. Senate Bill 394 allows young people sentenced to life without parole to have a parole hearing after 25 years. SB 394 complies with the Supreme Court, delivers accountability, and allows for the possibility of rehabilitation.
- Authored SB 395, which requires those age 15 and under to consult with legal counsel before they waive their Miranda rights in interrogations with police. Research shows that young people are much more likely to confess to crimes they didn’t commit, and they are less likely to understand their constitutional rights than adults.
As the first openly gay person of color elected to the California State Senate, Ricardo Lara is incredibly proud of his extensive legislative work that has served to help protect, support and advance the LGBT community.
- In 2017, Ricardo proudly authored SB 396, the Transgender Work Opportunity Act, in order to combat discrimination high unemployment in the transgender workforce through education, training, and workforce investment. The bill requires employers with 50 or more employees to provide training and education regarding harassment based on gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation.
- In 2016, Ricardo authored SB 1146 to protect LGBT students against discrimination and retaliation at religious universities.
- To protect LGBT youth from mental and physical abuse at conversion therapy camps also masked as “private boarding schools, behavioral reform camps, and wilderness youth camps”, I authored SB594 in 2015, which required licensing, greater oversight and regulation.
- I reintroduced SB 29 in 2017, my Dignity not Detention bill to, among other changes, improve conditions of Immigrant detainees, including LGBT immigrants and refugees in private and public immigration detention facilities. The bill includes provisions to ensure LGBT detainees, including transgender detainees are treated humanely and are afforded access to care, medical treatment and necessary medication and hormones, often denied at these facilities.
- During his tenure in the Assembly, Ricardo authored AB 673, which added LGBT health issues to the mission of the State Office of Multicultural Health and enables the agency to seek funding for health initiatives that target the LGBT community.
- A proven champion for the LGBT community, Ricardo has consistently earned a 100% legislative scorecard from Equality California and Planned Parenthood Affiliates of California. If elected, Ricardo would be the first openly gay statewide elected official in California’s history.
Ricardo Lara has been committed to ensuring that every Californian has an opportunity at the American Dream, and has relentlessly worked to create an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top.
- Authored SB 574, which would have required the UC/CSU system to evaluate the total compensation packages of contingent workers, in order to make sure that the wages and benefits of university employees would not be undercut. Was unfortunately vetoed by Gov Brown.
- Ricardo earned 100% voting record from the California Labor Federation in 2017, and has a 96% lifetime floor score from CLF.
Ricardo Lara has been committed to ensuring that all Californians have access to clean, drinkable water, as well as advancing efforts that benefit the robust agriculture industry in California.
- Authored SB 498 to help the state reach its 75% waste reduction goal by providing incentives for the development of cleaner and more efficient technologies in California for converting biomass materials, such as yard waste and tree trimmings, into renewable energy.
- Co-authored AB 1471, which placed a water bond before voters a historic effort to provide crucial funding to revitalize California’s water infrastructure, including new water storage, regional projects, groundwater cleanup, recycling projects, and delta restoration and protection. It became Proposition 1 in 2014, and was overwhelmingly approved by California voters.
- Co-authored AB 2561, which ensured that people have the ability to grow edible fruits and vegetables at home for personal use. In addition, the bill helped increase access to fresh produce for all Californians, especially those in low-income areas.
Ricardo Lara has been committed to ensuring that California has a 21st Century transportation infrastructure, despite decades of inaction at the federal level.
- Authored a component of SB1, the landmark law that created an historic long-term funding plan for state and local transportation infrastructure priorities. Lara’s bill that required proof of compliance with California’s Truck and Bus Regulation as a condition of DMV registration, similar to smog certification requirements for most vehicles on the road today, was incorporated in SB1.
- Authored SB 1273, which revamped California’s Low Cost Auto Insurance program to improve the safety of our roads and ensure that all Californians have access to affordable automobile insurance. The enhancements to the program enabled many more low-income Californians to be eligible for the Low Cost program.
- Authored SB 1204 to foster the development of technology that will allow every Californian to breathe cleaner air while reducing the financial burden to transition to zero emission trucks, buses and off-road equipment. The bill specifically targeted projects in disadvantaged communities, which are directly impacted by poor air quality.