Mark DeSaulnier


Mark James DeSaulnier is an American politician who has served since 2015 as the U.S. Representative for California's 11th congressional district. The district includes most of Contra Costa County, a suburban county in the East Bay. He has been a member of the Democratic Party since 2000; he was a liberal Republican prior to then.
Prior to serving in the U.S. House of Representatives, DeSaulnier was a member the Concord City Council, a Contra Costa County Supervisor, and a member of the California State Legislature, representing the 11th State Assembly district from 2006 to 2008 and the 7th State Senate district from 2008 to 2015.

Early life and education

DeSaulnier was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, and raised in a Roman Catholic family. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in history from the College of the Holy Cross.
After his father, Edward, a Massachusetts Superior Court judge, became involved in a scandal in the early 1970s, DeSaulnier moved to California. He settled in Concord, California. As a young man, DeSaulnier worked as a probation officer, a truck driver, and a hotel services employee. DeSaulnier owned and operated several restaurants in the San Francisco Bay Area.

Early political career

DeSaulnier was appointed to the Concord Planning Commission in 1988. In 1991, he was elected to the Concord City Council and served as mayor of Concord in 1993. He was also a member of the University of California Toxic Substances Research and Teaching Program Advisory Committee.
In early 1994, Republican Governor Pete Wilson appointed DeSaulnier, then a fellow Republican, to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors district 4, filling a vacancy caused by the resignation of Supervisor Sunne McPeak. He was elected in 1994 and re-elected in 1998 and 2002. In June 1998, he received 98.4 percent of the vote against write-in candidates. In March 2002, DeSaulnier was reelected with 79 percent of the vote against challenger Dione Mustard.
During DeSaulnier's tenure on the Board of Supervisors, he sponsored the Industrial Safety Ordinance and the Refinery Flare Rule for local refineries and chemical facilities. DeSaulnier served on the executive boards of the Association of Bay Area Governments, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. He was appointed to represent the Bay Area on the California Air Resources Board by the Air District.
As a member of the Air Resources Board, DeSaulnier supported strong environmental regulations, including cleaner-burning gasoline, lower-emission vehicles, the identification of diesel exhaust as a toxic air contaminant, dioxin monitoring in the Bay Area, the banning of methyl tertiary-butyl ether in gasoline, the identification of secondhand smoke as a carcinogen, the reduction of emissions from dairy farms, the phase-out of rice straw in the central valley and the reduction of emissions from cruise ships.
On a county level, DeSaulnier introduced a Women's Health Program to serve the health-care needs of all women in Contra Costa County. He also established the annual Children and Families' Budget, a separate County budget that reviews and measures the effectiveness of County programs in these areas. His other projects for children include AfterSchool4All, the Future Fund and the Children and Families Committee of the Board of Supervisors.
The Contra Costa Times editorial board was critical of DeSaulnier's record as county supervisor. An editorial published in 2009 stated, "Many of the financial problems that afflict Contra Costa County today stem directly from decisions DeSaulnier championed while he was supervisor. Most notably, in 2002, at a time when the county faced a $31.5 million shortfall, was already laying off workers and was already experiencing increased public employee pension costs, DeSaulnier supported unsustainable pension increases that hiked benefits for public safety workers by as much as 50 percent. The plan allowed public safety workers to retire at age 50 with a pension worth 3 percent of their salary for each year served. Such excessive public employee union benefits have strained some local jurisdictions to the brink of bankruptcy."

California State Assembly

In the June 2006 Democratic primary, DeSaulnier carried 52 percent of the vote against Pittsburg School Board Trustee Laura Canciamilla and two other opponents. DeSaulnier was endorsed by the San Francisco Chronicle, the Contra Costa Times, U.S. Senator Barbara Boxer and California Senator Tom Torlakson. DeSaulnier won a decisive victory in the 2006 general election against Republican Arne Simonsen and Libertarian Cory Nott with 66% of all votes cast.
In the Assembly, DeSaulnier chaired the Committee on Transportation and the Select Committees on Growth Management and Air Quality. He was also a member of the Assembly Committees on Appropriations, Human Services, Rules and Labor and Employment. He authored or co-authored over 40 bills during the 20072008 legislative session. His bills addressed truancy among school children, preschool access, suicide prevention, childhood obesity, reducing air pollution, smoke-free workplaces, and the creation of opportunities for at-risk youth.
One bill introduced by DeSaulnier, AB 1617, would have restricted tobacco smokers from purchasing tobacco products via the internet. The bill was vetoed by Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger. Another DeSaulnier bill, AB 2235, which would require that a biometric feature be incorporated into all new handguns sold in California.
For the Live Earth concert in July 2007, DeSaulnier delivered the Democratic weekly radio address on steps people can take to reduce their carbon footprint.

California State Senate

DeSaulnier was elected to the California State Senate in November 2008, representing the 7th Senate district which includes most of Contra Costa County. DeSaulnier received early support from the Contra Costa Central Labor Council, the Contra Costa Building Trades Council and the California League of Conservation Voters. He received 98% of the vote in the June 2008 Democratic primary election against write-in candidates; former Assemblyman Joe Canciamilla initially was to challenge DeSaulnier for the Senate seat, but dropped out of the race. In the 2008 general election, DeSaulnier received 66.6% of the vote against Republican Christian Amsberry.
In the Senate, DeSaulnier was the chair of the Labor and Industrial Relations committee, and a member of the Health, Transportation and Housing, and Appropriations committees. He was also the chair of the select committees on Constitutional Reform and Growth Management.
DeSaulnier authored over 20 bills that addressed the ability of workers to designate their treating physician prior to an injury, providing for greater prescription drug safety, supporting increased funding for alcohol-abuse programs, expanding electronic recycling and funding for climate protection. He supported Senate Concurrent Resolution 3 to propose to California voters the question of whether to call a convention to reform the state constitution.
In September 2009, DeSaulnier amended SB 88 to attempt to restrict the ability of local governments to shed pension programs through bankruptcy protection.
In 2012, DeSaulnier proposed a bill, SB1366, that would require gun owners whose guns are stolen or lost report the fact to police within 48 hours. Failure to comply would result in fines on the first and second offenses, with higher fines and possible jail on the third. The bill was endorsed by the Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence and the California Police Chiefs Association, and opposed by the California Rifle and Pistol Association.
In November 2014, DeSaulnier was elected to represent California's 11th congressional district in the United States House of Representatives. As a result, DeSaulnier resigned his state senate seat in order to elevate to Congress.

U.S. House of Representatives

2009 special election

In 2009, DeSaulnier announced his candidacy for the United States House of Representatives in the special election in California's 10th congressional district after the resignation of the incumbent Ellen Tauscher, who endorsed him. In the September 1 Democratic primary, DeSaulnier came in second, behind John Garamendi.

2014 election

In 2014, after George Miller announced his retirement from the U.S. House of Representatives, DeSaulnier announced his candidacy for California's 11th congressional district to succeed him. He won the general election in a landslide victory. DeSaulnier took office on January 3, 2015.

Tenure

DeSaulnier and Representative David Cicilline introduced legislation that creates a pathway for local newspapers to operate on a non-profit level. They attribute the loss of local ad revenue to the shift in media consumption habits. "As consumers have turned to online platforms like Facebook and Google to read the news, advertisers have followed, taking away a vital source of revenue local publications need to maintain their staffing levels. Local news organizations do not get a cut of the financial benefit when their stories are shared online". The bill grants local news companies a 48-month safe harbor from anti-trust laws to negotiate with prominent online platforms for ad profits to address the shortage of journalists.
In May 2019, DeSaulnier introduced the Bots Research Act, a bill to establish a task force of experts at the Federal Trade Commission to determine the impact of bots on social media, public discourse, and elections in the United States.

Committee assignments

114th United States Congress
115th United States Congress

Leadership

A member of the Concord Chamber of Commerce and the Contra Costa Council, DeSaulnier lives in Concord, California, where he raised his two sons. He is an avid runner and has completed twenty-one marathons.
In May 2016, DeSaulnier announced that he had been diagnosed with chronic lymphocytic leukemia in 2015, and had undergone chemotherapy. While the cancer was described as incurable, DeSaulnier said he would still seek re-election.
On March 13, 2020, DeSaulnier was hospitalized in Washington, D.C., for a rib fracture sustained during a run, as well as for pneumonia. On March 21, it was announced that his health had declined, and he was reported as being in critical condition. He steadily recovered, and was released from the hospital on May 4.

Electoral history