Patricia Bates
Patricia Carmody "Pat" Bates is an American Republican politician currently serving in the California State Senate, representing the 36th Senate district, which encompasses parts of Orange and San Diego counties. She served as the Senate's minority leader from 2017 to 2019.
She previously served as a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors from 2007 to 2014, and the California State Assembly from 1998 to 2004. She also served as the first mayor of Laguna Niguel, California following its incorporation in 1989, and continued to serve on the city council until 1998. Before serving as mayor, she had been employed as a social worker in Los Angeles County.
Biography
Patricia Carmody Bates was born in 1939 in Long Beach, California. She attended California State University, Long Beach and earned a Bachelor of Science from Occidental College before marrying architect John Bates.Bates began her professional career as a social worker in South Central Los Angeles and served as a supervisor and a Deputy Director in the Aged, Blind and Disabled categorical aid programs for the Los Angeles Department of Social Services. Bates said it was this experience as a government bureaucrat that made her realize government's shortcomings and caused her to view some government programs unfavorably.
Political career
Laguna Niguel
Bates was part of the drive to turn Laguna Niguel into a city. Bates ran for a seat on the new city's first city council in 1989. She was elected the city's first mayor by fellow council members. She went on to serve four terms as mayor and was a city council member until 1998.State Assembly
Bates was elected to the California State Assembly in 1998. While in the Assembly, she served as vice chair of the Appropriations Committee and vice chair of the Assembly Health Committee. She was re-elected in 2000 and 2002. She was also a founding chair of the Republican Women's Caucus and appointed to the Little Hoover Commission and the California Performance Review Commission during this time. She served in the Assembly until 2004 due to term limits.Orange County Board of Supervisors
On January 9, 2007, Bates was sworn-in as an Orange County supervisor. During her tenure, she focused on the county's fiscal outlook, created business/jobs friendly policies, drove on-time delivery of transportation projects, implemented pension and retiree reforms and worked with local groups to protect the county's coastline.California State Senate
In 2014, Bates was elected to the California State Senate. She became the Minority Leader of the California State Senate on April 12, 2017, becoming only the second woman in the history of the state to lead a party caucus According to her official Senate biography, Bates strongly supports Proposition 13 and opposes California's gas and car tax increase that was enacted in 2017. Bates endorsed Marco Rubio for President in the 2016 United States Presidential election.As a state senator, Bates authored the following bills that were signed into law by California's Governor:
2015
SB 241: Neighborhood Electric Vehicles – Extended the date by which Orange County may establish a NEV transportation plan for the Ranch Plan Planned Community.SB 531: Board of Behavioral Sciences Enforcement – Clarifies how the Board of Behavioral Sciences may deny a petition without a hearing.
2016
SB 423: Medical Waste Disposal – Requires the Department of Toxic Substances Control to convene a Retail Working Group to determine better ways to manage and dispose of household consumer waste.SB 905: ABC Club Licenses – Allows the Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to issue a club license to nonprofit umbrella organizations serving veterans.
SB 1315: County Budget Adoption – Allows for greater flexibility for counties to comply with budget adoption guidelines.
SB 1360: Fairness in Municipal Police Services Contracts – Requires cities which provide law enforcement services to other cities to charge the actual cost of all services rendered.
SB 1436: Local Agency Executive Compensation – Ensures that the decisions regarding local agency executive compensation are open to the public.
SB 1458: Disabled Veterans, Property Tax – Makes California law consistent with federal law so that any veteran receiving service-connected disability compensation benefits at 100% will be eligible to receive the state's disabled veterans' property tax exemption.
2017
SB 367: Dana Point Harbor Tidelands Grant Lease – Extends available lease terms for Dana Point Harbor from 50 to 66 years.SB 466: Rental Vehicles: AMBER Alerts – Authorizes electronic surveillance technology to be used, accessed, or obtained by a rental company in circumstances in which the rental vehicle is the subject of an AMBER Alert.
SB 684: Incompetent to Stand Trial: Conservatorship: Treatment – Provides the criminal court with legal options for a mentally ill defendant who has been declared incompetent to stand trial.
2018
SB 70: Real estate: Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice—Allows a narrow exemption from the Uniform Standards of Professional Appraisal Practice.SB 1109: Controlled substances: Schedule II drugs: opioids—Educates and updates policies surrounding the prescription of opioids.
SB 1151: Neighborhood electric vehicles: County of San Diego—Authorizes San Diego County or any city in the county to establish a "Neighborhood Electric Vehicles Transportation Plan" to serve the transportation needs of its residents.
SB 1226: Building standards: building permits—Helps ensure that existing granny flats are safe to live in and help meet the needs of families and communities.
2019
SB 141: Parole: sexually violent offenses: validated risk assessment—Requires all inmates convicted of a sexually violent offense to be evaluated for future risk before they can leave custody.SB 541: School safety: lockdown drills and multioption response drills: report—Requires the California Department of Education to report on the use of existing lockdown drills in K-12 public schools.
SB 679: Healing arts: therapists and counselors: licensing—Streamlines the process for licensed professional clinical counselors, marriage and family therapists, and clinical social workers in other states to become licensed in California.
Political positions
Gas taxes
Bates opposed California's 2017 gas and car tax increase, calling it a “lemon” and writing that “the big winners of SB1 are bureaucrats who want more money without real accountability and the boosters of high-speed rail whose funding remains untouched.”High-speed rail
Bates opposes the continued construction of California's high-speed rail project, saying “It's a boondoggle. At some point you have to pull the plug.” She advocated that the money for high-speed rail be used to fix roads instead.Sober living homes and residential treatment facilities
Bates authored legislation to require criminal background checks on people owning rehabs and working in the industry. She wants the federal government to give local governments tools to help regulate such facilities. She credited Southern California New Group's “Rehab Riviera” coverage for raising greater awareness of the issue.Opioid crisis
Bates authored bills to address opioid abuse and to improve regulation of facilities that shelter and treat drug addicts. She authored SB 1109 that was signed by Governor Jerry Brown to increase education for people who are prescribed opioids and to increase training for medical professionals.Public safety
Bates authored legislation to reclassify several offenses as “violent” felonies to close what she believes are loopholes in state law. She sides with prosecutors arguing that the state's violent felony list could allow some dangerous inmates to walk free.Bates was honored by Crime Victims United of California as one of its legislators of the year.
Education
Bates endorsed California's Proposition 51 of 2016, which authorized $9 billion in bonds to fund improvement and construction of school facilities for K-12 schools and community colleges. She urged Governor Jerry Brown to expedite the issuance of the bonds.Environment
Bates supported SR 35, which “supports the current federal prohibition on new oil or gas drilling in federal waters offshore California.” She also supported SR 73, which urges the federal government to permanently safeguard and protect the Pacific coast's Outer Continental Shelf from new oil and gas leasing. She has publicly stated that "Sea level rise and coastal erosion are two major threats to California’s coast" and that "Legislators must come together to find a consensus on solutions."Health care
Bates opposed a bill that would establish a single-payer health care system in California, agreeing with Assembly Speaker Anthony Rendon that it was “woefully incomplete” because it did not address financing and other concerns. She also called the bill “a false promise that would ruin the state’s precarious finances and threaten funding for other critical priorities.” She said the “Legislature should refocus its efforts on improving existing health programs and on helping those who do not have access to necessary care.”In 2015, Bates introduced legislation to allow Saddleback Memorial Medical Center's San Clemente campus to operate as a stand-alone emergency room in an effort to keep the ER open.