Sydney Kamlager is an American politician serving in the California State Senate. She is a Democrat representing Senate District 30, encompassing Mid-City Los Angeles, the Crenshaw community, Baldwin Hills, Ladera Heights, Windsor Hills, all of Culver City, and parts of Westside Los Angeles.
In the early days of my career, as an advocate at Crystal Stairs, a nonprofit providing childcare and early learning to Los Angeles County children, including those in foster care, I saw firsthand how high-quality, early childhood education improves the lives of families. As your Assemblymember, I fought for the budget (signed into law on July 1st, 2019) that affords free public preschool for all 4-year-olds living in neighborhoods where most school children are low income. It’s a step toward my long-term objective to implement free, universal preschool throughout our state.
Informed in part by the time I spent on the Los Angeles Community College Board, I’m committed to finding a way to fund free education for a student’s complete path from early childhood through higher education, including college. This year, we increased the state budget to provide two years of free community college tuition for first-time, full-time students. We also passed a tuition freeze and increased enrollment slots at University of California and Cal State University systems for the coming academic year.
Eliminating discrimination in schools is critical to learning. I coauthored AB 2735, which ensures English learners are not denied enrollment in core curriculum courses required for high school graduation, and SB 188 to end discrimination based on a person’s natural hairstyle, a law intended to reverse the racist ideology that Black traits are inferior traits.
Education is the great equalizer. I seek to grow opportunities for all students to pursue education and to make those educational environments more equal and encouraging for everyone.
I’m proud to represent the many institutions of higher learning in the district, including UCLA and West Los Angeles Community College.
Everyone everywhere has a fundamental right to breathe clean air, drink pure water, and play or relax in safe green spaces. It’s more urgent than ever before that we take steps, guided by science, to preserve those basic rights and to reduce human impact on our environment so our planet continues to sustain us.
I’m proud to serve as a member of the Environmental Caucus, advocating for crucial legislation on environmental issues facing our state, as well as on the Committee on Coastal Protection and Access to Natural Resources.
As your Assemblymember, I championed laws that establish groundbreaking environmental protection standards. I introduced AB 1100, to increase parking infrastructure for electric-vehicle charging, and AB 987, the bill that delivers the new Clippers stadium to Inglewood and which requires the arena and associated developments to meet a net-zero greenhouse gas emission standard. I also co-authored SB 54 and AB 1080, policies to reduce pollution from plastic packaging and products, including single-use plastic straws.
I’m committed to protecting the quality of our air and water, developing green space, defending our public lands, and keeping California a leader in the fight against global climate change.
The cost of housing in California has skyrocketed, making buying or renting a home unaffordable for most everyone except high income earners. The lack of affordable housing places families in increasingly unstable living situations and is one of the causes of the homelessness crisis. People should have affordable options – and those who work here, including local teachers and firefighters, should also be able to afford to live here without it costing three-quarters of their income.
I’m pleased to report that I helped pass the Veterans Housing and Homeless Prevention Bond Act of 2019 in the State Assembly. And I’m proud to have fought for a budget that increases job programs, such as California Work Opportunity grants, assists low-income families with paying for housing, food, and other necessities, and alleviates the factors that lead some people to homelessness. I also authored AB 1745 to protect tenants from having evictions added to their credit report. I will continue to make affordable housing a top priority.
For those already living on the streets or in their cars, the budget earmarks $675 million in funding for the construction and expansion of emergency shelters and navigation centers, rapid rehousing, permanent supportive housing, and innovative projects like hotel and motel conversions. These funds will go to cities and counties and will have accountability measures attached, including required reporting on how dollars will be spent to meet the goal of moving the homeless into permanent housing.
We are not the only species that matters. Often we do not grasp how ecologically connected we are to all the life on the planet.
But we are connected – closely. This bond is the reason I:
These legislative efforts are part of the continuing struggle to protect the creatures that share the planet with us and provide us with a healthy ecological balance.
In recognition of these efforts, I received the 2020 Humane Legislator Award from the Humane Society of the United States.
Access, equality and justice should be the foundations of government and business. They also should form the basis for how we treat our neighbors. Yet, discrimination and bias creep into behavior, systems and policies at alarming rates..
In my first year in office, I introduced three bills (AB 241, 242, 243) that require mandatory implicit bias training for law enforcement officers, medical professionals, judges and trial lawyers. AB 241 and 242 were signed into law by Governor Newsom.
I co-authored SB 188, known as the Crown Act, to end discrimination based upon a person’s natural hairstyle and ensure that no one has to abandon healthy, natural hair to placate unhealthy and unnatural biases.
I voted to expand paid family leave and to require publicly held corporations headquartered in California to have at least one director from an underrepresented community by the close of 2021.
I have a 100% score from Equality CA and was the only California legislator to receive a perfect score from Disability Rights CA. I am a staunch advocate for members of the LGBTQ community and for Californians with disabilities.