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Nancy Skinner

Senator Skinner

A California native and longtime resident of Berkeley, Senator Nancy Skinner served 14 years in the California Legislature as a member of both the state Assembly and the state Senate.

Sen. Skinner began her public service in 1984 as the first student elected to the Berkeley City Council. As a student activist, Skinner initiated UC Berkeley’s DeCal Program to promote student-led courses, was one of the leaders of UC Berkeley’s South Africa Divestment campaign, and organized the 20th Anniversary of the Free Speech Movement, with Mario Savio speaking at a rally in Sproul Plaza for the first time since 1964.

As a Berkeley councilmember, Skinner authored the 1990 ordinance that declared Columbus Day Indigenous People’s Day, making Berkeley the first governmental entity to officially recognize Indigenous People’s Day, and in 1988, she introduced the nation’s first Styrofoam ban, which resulted in the McDonald’s restaurants in Berkeley becoming the first styrofoam-free McDonald’s in the U.S.

While on the Berkeley City Council, Skinner co-founded an international association, ICLEI-Local Governments for Sustainability, which includes 2,500 local and regional governments in over 125 countries. At ICLEI, Skinner led the Cities for Climate Protection program from 1994 to 2004, which engaged with a thousand cities worldwide to take action to address climate change. Following her work at ICLEI, Skinner served as the U.S. director of The Climate Group, where she worked with and encouraged states and Fortune 500 companies to take a leadership role in fighting the climate crisis. In 2006, while U.S. director of The Climate Group, she organized a summit with then-Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, then-British Prime Minister Tony Blair and Fortune 500 CEOs to discuss actions to address climate change, a precursor to Schwarzenegger’s signing of AB 32, California’s Global Warming Solutions Act.  

Sen. Skinner also served as an elected member of the East Bay Regional Park District board. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley, earning both a bachelor’s of science and a master’s degree.

State Legislative Career
Skinner was first elected to the state Assembly in 2008, terming out in 2014. Her Assembly District originally included the Northern Alameda County cities of Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Piedmont and parts of Oakland and the Contra Costa County cities of El Cerrito, Kensington, Lafayette, Orinda, Moraga, Pleasant Hill, Richmond and San Pablo. After 2010 redistricting, the LaMorinda area was removed from her district, with a larger portion of Oakland added, along with the West Contra Costa County cities of Hercules and Rodeo.  

Skinner was elected to the state Senate in 2016, terming out in 2024. Her Senate district covered the Northern Alameda County communities of Alameda, Albany, Berkeley, Emeryville, Oakland, Piedmont, and San Leandro, and the West Contra Costa cities and unincorporated areas of El Cerrito, El Sobrante, Hercules, Kensington, Rodeo, Richmond, North Richmond, and San Pablo.

Record for Highest Number of Votes
For her reelection to the state Senate in the 2020 general election, Sen. Skinner established a record for the highest-ever vote total by a California legislator with 404,455 votes. She was termed out of the state Senate on Nov. 30, 2024.

Legislative Victories 
During her time in the Senate and Assembly, Sen. Skinner authored more than 130 new laws, including several groundbreaking statutes that became national models for other states and earned her a national reputation on criminal justice reform, allowing student athletes to be paid, and establishing universal school meals. Throughout her legislative career, she was a tireless advocate of social and economic justice, a clean energy and climate change trailblazer, and a champion for housing and reducing homelessness.

Her legislative accomplishments in the Assembly included requiring Amazon and other internet retailers to collect sales tax, bringing much needed revenue to the state during the Great Recession; launching California’s world-leading effort to build large-scale battery storage for renewable energy; establishing the nation’s first gun violence restraining order statute, also known as a ‘Red Flag’ law; and ensuring college students have access to federal food assistance, which has now been copied by most states.

Skinner’s numerous achievements in the Senate included making California the first state to give college athletes the right to earn money from their name, image, and likeness; opening up police misconduct records for the first time in 40 years; reforming California’s unjust felony murder rule; and accelerating the production of housing in the state. She also led the successful effort in 2021 for Universal School Meals, making California the first state in the nation to provide two free meals a day to all public school children.

Senate and Assembly Committee Leadership 
During her legislative tenure, Sen. Skinner served as Senate majority whip and as chair of the following committees:

  • Assembly Natural Resources 2009-2010
  • Assembly Rules 2011-2013
  • Assembly Budget Committee 2013-2014
  • Senate Public Safety Committee 2017-21
  • Senate Budget Sub-Committee on Public Safety  2017-2021
  • Senate Budget Committee 2021-2024
  • Senate Housing Committee 2024

California Legislative Women’s Caucus
Sen. Skinner served as chair of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus from 2022-2024, and vice chair from 2020-2022. Throughout her tenure in the Legislature, Skinner was a tireless advocate for increasing the number of women in elected office. Along with her Democratic colleagues in the Women’s Caucus, she launched the Women in Power PAC in 2010 to support Democratic women running for state office.

In 2016, the Legislative Women’s Caucus began a campaign to achieve gender parity in the state Capitol. At the time, there were only 27 women in the 120-member Legislature. Under Sen. Skinner and the Women’s Caucus leadership, in 2021, the number of women in the Legislature rose to a then-record 39. Two years later in 2023, the number of women jumped to a new record of 50. With the November 2024 election, the number of women was expected to increase to 58, with the Senate achieving gender parity — women holding a majority of state Senate seats — for the first time.

Under her leadership, the Women’s Caucus continued its focus on ensuring affordable and accessible early care and education for all of California’s children, age 0-4, resulting in California increasing funding for childcare and state preschool by more than $6 billion from 2019 to 2023.

Assembly Legislative/Budget Highlights

  • Rules Committee Chair – Public Internet Access & Energy Efficiency Retrofit of State Capitol.  As chair of the Assembly Rules Committee, Skinner equipped the State Capitol, for the first time, with publicly available internet access. Working in cooperation with the Sacramento Municipal Utilities District and the Department of General Services, Skinner also initiated an energy efficiency retrofit of the historic Capitol, including converting all of the lighting in the Capitol Dome and the Assembly and Senate Chambers from incandescent lights to LEDs.
  • AB 510, Solar Net Metering, (2010). Asm. Skinner’s AB 510 turbocharged California’s rooftop solar revolution. The law doubled the amount of renewable energy that homeowners with rooftop solar could sell back to the grid, thus greatly incentivizing the adoption of rooftop solar and dramatically slashing the state’s reliance on fossil fuels. Following AB 510, the total amount of rooftop solar in California skyrocketed from 924 MW installed to 46,874 MW by 2024.
  • AB 2514, Large-Scale Battery Storage (2010). In 2010, Asm. Skinner authored a groundbreaking law that launched California's world-leading effort to create large-scale battery storage for renewable energy to reduce the state's reliance on fossil fuel power plants. By 2024, California led the world in large-scale battery storage.
  • Amazon Sales Tax (2011). In 2011, Asm. Skinner partnered with then-Gov. Jerry Brown on an agreement requiring Amazon and other online retailers to begin collecting sales tax. Revenues from online sales taxes have been crucial in helping California avoid devastating cuts during budget downturns.
  • AB 1130, Reagan-Wilson Share the Wealth Measure (2011). While Republican Governors Ronald Reagan and Pete Wilson were in office, California’s income tax rate on millionaires was 1% higher than it was in 2010, a time California faced huge budget deficits due to the Great Recession. Skinner’s AB 1130 would have restored the income tax rates of the Reagan and Wilson eras, generating an estimated $2.3 billion a year for California. Governor Jerry Brown incorporated these rates into Proposition 30, which was passed by the voters in 2012.
  • AB 933 Craft Distillers (2013). California has some of the most distinctive and popular craft distilleries in the world. Yet until then-Asm. Skinner’s AB 933 (2013), small craft distillers were effectively barred from offering tastings of their spirits to the public and for charging for those tastings. Skinner did a follow up bill, SB 1164, Craft Distillers Op-pour-tunity Act in 2018 that further expanded opportunities for craft distillers by allowing them to sell their products directly to people visiting the distillery.
  • AB 1014, Red Flag Law (2014). Following a mass shooting near UC Santa Barbara, Asm. Skinner authored AB 1014, which established the nation's first gun violence restraining order (GVRO), also known as the "Red Flag" law. GVROs allow law enforcement, family members, educators, co-workers and employers to petition a court to remove guns and ammunition from a person who poses a serious threat to themselves or others. Research by UC Davis estimates that AB 1014 has prevented dozens of mass shootings and untold numbers of suicides. Similar Red Flag laws were later adopted by numerous other states.
  • AB 1930, Calfresh for College Students (2014). Asm. Skinner’s AB 1930 launched an effort in 2014 to ensure that CalFresh benefits are accessible for low-income college students so they don’t go hungry. California’s CalFresh for College Students model has since been adopted by many other states.

  • Assembly Budget Chair, Conference Committee member. In 2012, Asm. Skinner launched a decade-long effort to close California’s youth prisons by ending the controversial practice of “time adds,” that allowed guards to delay youths' parole consideration hearings. The elimination of time-adds, achieved in the 2012-13 state Budget, along with subsequent reforms, decreased the youth prison population and set up the possibility to close California’s two remaining state juvenile correction facilities. These facilities were ultimately closed in 2019 when Skinner was chair of the Senate’s Public Safety Budget Committee. As Assembly Budget Chair, she also facilitated allowing sheriffs to award additional time credits to inmates sentenced to county jail who participate in in-custody work or job-training programs, and removed the lifetime ban on those with drug convictions from being eligible for CalFresh and other safety net benefits.

    Senate Legislative Accomplishments

    Housing

  • SB 167, Strengthening the Housing Accountability Act (2017). California’s Housing Accountability Act (HAA) was originally enacted in 1982, yet California failed to build enough housing to meet demand in the decades after it went into effect. Sen. Skinner’s SB 167 was designed to boost housing production by strengthening HAA and making the state’s other housing laws more effective by allowing courts to fine local governments for blocking housing that meets local zoning rules and requiring local governments to pay legal fees of those who successfully sue the local government for failure to comply with HAA.  
  • Accessory Dwelling Units (ADUs) (2018-2024). Sen. Skinner authored and co-authored several laws expanding the ability of California property owners to build ADUs, also known as granny flats or backyard cottages. In 2018, she authored SB 1469, which became part of two groundbreaking ADU laws that she co-authored the following year, SB 13 (Wieckowski) and AB 68 (Ting). Because of these laws, ADUs became the fastest-growing sector of California’s housing market by the early 2020s. In 2024, Sen. Skinner authored SB 1211, opening the door for more ADUs on properties with multifamily housing.
  • SB 330, the Housing Crisis Act (2019). SB 330 accelerated housing construction by limiting the ability of local governments to delay or deny housing that meets local zoning rules.

  • SB 440, Enabling Regional Housing Finance Agencies (2024). Local governments often do not have the funds needed to build affordable housing units. Sen. Skinner’s SB 440 enables local governments to join together to establish regional housing finance agencies to support affordable housing in their communities.

    Public Safety/Criminal Justice Reform

  • SB 312, Sealing Juvenile Records (2017).  Sen. Skinner’s SB 312 allowed courts to seal the criminal records of people who committed crimes as a juvenile, thereby removing lifetime barriers to jobs, education, and housing, while promoting rehabilitation and reducing recidivism.
  • SB 1437, Reforming Felony Murder (2018). SB 1437 reformed California’s unjust felony murder law to ensure that only people who commit murder or had a direct role in a killing can be convicted of murder. As of 2024, SB 1437 has resulted in close to 1,000 people who were wrongly convicted of murder being resentenced, and many of them were released from custody after receiving credit for time served.

  • SB 81, Judicial Guidance on Sentence Enhancements (2021). SB 81 was designed to address the proliferation of sentence enhancements, which can often double the length of a prison term and have been disproportionately applied to people of color and those suffering from mental illness. SB 81 provided clear guidance to judges on when it’s appropriate to dismiss an unnecessary sentence enhancement without impacting public safety.

    Police Misconduct

  •  SB 1421, Right to Know Act (2018). A landmark transparency law, SB 1421 reopened California police misconduct records to the public for the first time in four decades. Under 1421, records made public included incidents where a police officer killed someone, inflicted great bodily injury, or discharged their firearm at someone, as well as sustained findings of sexual assault on a member of the public and dishonesty.

  • SB 16, Right to Know Act II (2021). SB 16 was a follow-up to Skinner’s SB 1421 that expanded the number of police misconduct records that are now publicly available to include sustained findings of unreasonable or excessive force, unlawful searches or arrests, and incidents of prejudice, racism, or bias. SB 16 also requires law enforcement agencies to review police records before hiring a new officer so that officers with serious misconduct would no longer be able to move from one agency to another without disclosure.

    Social Justice

  • SB 206, the Fair Pay to Play Act (2019). Sen. Skinner’s groundbreaking SB 206 made California the first state to enact a law allowing college athletes to receive compensation for the use of their name, image, and likeness (NIL). SB 206 sparked a national movement, and today college students in every state have regained their NIL rights and are earning money for their talent and hard work.
  • SB 419, Willful Defiance Suspensions (2019). SB 419 was designed to keep kids in school by prohibiting the suspension of students for minor behavioral issues known as “willful defiance.” Historically, willful defiance suspensions disproportionately impacted students of color, LGBTQ students, students who are homeless or in foster care, and those with disabilities. SB 419 eliminated willful defiance suspensions for grades K-8. Sen. Skinner’s follow-up law, SB 274 (2023), extended the ban on willful defiance suspensions to high schools until 2029.
  • SB 960, Expanding Eligibility for Peace Officers (2023): SB 960 was designed to further diversify law enforcement agencies in California and address the shortage of police officers by removing the rule that prevented law enforcement from hiring noncitizens who have full legal work authorization and meet all other requirements to serve as peace officers.

  • SB 976, Protecting Our Kids from Social Media Addiction (2024). Social media platforms are designed to addict users, especially our kids. Studies show that once a young person has a social media addiction, they experience higher rates of depression, anxiety, low self-esteem, and suicide. Sen. Skinner’s landmark law, SB 976, protects California youth from addictive social media feeds and prevents platforms from interrupting kids at school and when they’re asleep.

    Reproductive Justice, Gender Equity

  • SB 65, California Momnibus Act (2021): Sen. Skinner’s SB 65 was designed to save lives by helping close racial disparities in maternal and infant deaths. SB 65 requires the state to expand research and data collection on racial and socio-economic factors that contribute to higher rates of maternal and infant mortality and establish a stakeholder group to oversee this work. Portions of SB 65 were incorporated in the 2021-22 state budget, including increased grants for low-income pregnant people on CalWORKs, a guaranteed income pilot program, Medi-Cal coverage for doula services, and full-scope Medi-Cal coverage for birthing parents 12 months post-partum.
  • SB 54, Investing in Equity (2023). For too long, women- and minority owned business startups have been unable to access the venture capital investments needed to survive and prosper. By requiring venture capital investors in California to report on the diversity of their investments, SB 54 is aimed at bringing transparency to VC investments with the goal of helping more women- and minority-owned startups access the VC lifeline upon which entrepreneurs depend.

  • SB 345, Protecting Medication Abortion & Gender Affirming Care (2023). After the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022, Sen. Skinner, as chair of the California Legislative Women’s Caucus, led the effort to enact more than two dozen laws safeguarding the right to abortion and contraception in California. In 2023, she also authored a landmark shield law, SB 345, protecting California health care practitioners who provide abortion services and gender-affirming care to patients in other states.

    Clean Energy, Environmental Protection

  • SB 1014 Clean Miles Standard (2018). SB 1014 accelerated California’s transition to electric vehicles (EVs) and helped the state meet its climate goals by requiring the Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to establish the Clean Miles Standard and Incentive Program to increase the use of EVs by ride-hailing companies, such as Uber and Lyft. Ridesharing companies have responded by assisting drivers to buy or lease EVs and providing financial incentives for drivers who use EVs.
  • SB 1369 Green Electrolytic Hydrogen (2018). SB 1369 established a definition for green electrolytic hydrogen and required the CPUC, the Air Resources Board, and the Energy Commission to consider green electrolytic hydrogen an eligible form of energy storage as well as examining other potential uses of green electrolytic hydrogen to assist California’s transition off of fossil fuels.  
  • SB 54, Cutting Single-Use Packaging Pollution in California (2022, joint author with Sen. Ben Allen). A landmark law, SB 54 is the nation’s most comprehensive legislation to cut dependence on single-use plastic packaging, while shifting plastic pollution responsibility to producers and manufacturers. SB 54 requires that all forms of single-use packaging be recyclable or compostable by 2032 and mandates that 65% of plastic packaging be recycled by the same year. In addition, SB 54 requires plastics producers to pay $5 billion over 10 years to address the environmental impacts of plastic pollution and help communities most impacted by the damaging effects of single-use plastic waste.
  • SB 59, Bidirectional Charging (2024). The powerful batteries in electric vehicles (EVs) not only can power a car, but also a home or another facility. To do so, EVs need bidirectional capability. Sen. Skinner’s SB 59 supports the transition to bidirectional charging so EV’s can be used to power homes, reduce energy bills, and relieve strain on California’s electric grid.

Economic Equity

  • SB 364, Universal School Meals (2021). Sen. Skinner introduced SB 364, Free School Meals for All, to continue the pandemic program that provided two free meals a day to all students attending California’s public schools, grades TK to 12. As chair of the Senate Budget Committee, she led the successful effort to fund SB 364 in the 2021-22 state budget, ensuring that California became the first state to provide two free meals a day to all public school students. Numerous other states have since implemented universal school meals.
  • SB 854, The HOPE for Children Act (2022). More than 32,000 California children lost a parent or primary caregiver to COVID-19. Under Sen. Skinner’s SB 854, Hope Accounts were established for those children and long-term foster youth who could then access the trust funds at age 18. Funds for the program were included in the 2022-23 state budget, along with guidelines for the State Treasurer’s Office to implement the HOPE accounts.
  • SBX 1-2, Banning Gasoline Price Gouging, (2023): In the fall of 2022, following a series of gasoline price spikes at the pump, Gov. Gavin Newsom called for a special session of the Legislature to address price gouging. During that session in the spring of 2023, Sen. Skinner partnered with the Governor Newsom on SBX 1-2, creating the strongest and most effective transparency measure in the nation to ensure that oil companies do not price gouge Californians.

Senate Budget Accomplishments
Among Senator Skinner’s accomplishments as Senate Budget Committee chair from 2021-23 and chair of Senate Budget Sub-Committee 5 Public Safety from 2017-20 are:

  • Child Care Expansion (2021-2023). As chair of the Senate Budget Committee and chair of the Legislative Women’s Caucus, Sen. Skinner made funding child care a top priority. Under her leadership, California’s funding for child care and school-based preschools increased by a total of $6.5 billion in the 2021, 2022 and 2023 state budgets. This increase raised the pay for child care providers, established first-in-the-nation retirement benefits for child care workers, expanded the number of childcare slots for low-income families, and increased the rates paid to child care providers.
  • Momnibus, Universal School Meals. These two budget victories are described in legislative accomplishments section above.
  • Homelessness Prevention/Affordable Housing. Facilitated over $22 billion increase ($7.3 billion in 2021-22, and $11.9 billion through 2022-23) in investments to combat homelessness statewide including Project HomeKey, Project RoomKey, and the Homeless Housing, Assistance, and Prevention Program (HHAP) and roughly $4.5 billion in one-time multiyear investments in planning, producing, and preserving additional affordable and livable housing, plus a $2 billion revolving loan fund to UC and CSU campuses and community colleges to build student housing and provide homeless prevention stipends to foster youth.
  • Rehabilitation, Re-entry and Recidivism Reduction. (2017-23). As chair of the Public Safety Budget Sub-Committee 5 and later as Senate Budget Committee chair, Skinner focused on expanding and improving reentry programs, facilitating a funding increase of more than $600 million over 2019-2023, so that those released from incarceration can successfully return to their communities. She established the Custody to Community Transitional Reentry Program, which includes community-based facilities that house those in their last 1-2 years of custody to receive specialized job training, life skills and other services before their release. Skinner also championed funding for the Board of State and Community Corrections-administered program that provides grants to nonprofit organizations to provide housing, mental health and substance abuse treatment, and other services to formerly incarcerated people.
  • Prison Closures (2023). Skinner and her colleague Assembly Budget Chair Phil Ting championed the prison closure plan adopted as part of the state’s 2023-24 Budget, which included a net reduction of $403.1 million in the General Fund and $2.8 million in special funds for the closures of California City Correctional Facility, the California Correctional Center, and the Division of Juvenile Justice, and the deactivations of facilities at six institutions. The budget also included statutory intent to close additional state prisons.
  • School Transportation (2022). California was dead last providing transportation to and from school. In the 2022 budget, Skinner facilitated $637 million ongoing increase in funding for home-to-school transportation to enable public schools to expand transportation services.
  • Eliminated Uncollectable Civil Assessment Debt, Fines & Fees (2022). Under Skinner’s leadership, the 2022-23 state budget provided funding to reduce the maximum civil assessment from $300 to $100 and provided a one-time amnesty of all outstanding civil assessment debt, relieving low-income Californians of approximately $1 billion in uncollectable civil assessment debt.
  • Women in Construction Trades Unit/ERiCA Grants (2022). A priority for both Sen. Skinner and the Legislative Women’s Caucus, the Women in Construction Trades Unit was established within California’s Department of Labor in the 2022-23 Budget Act. The budget also funded ERiCA grants to cover child care costs for women in construction trades apprenticeship programs.
  • Abortion Access, Reproductive Justice Funding (2022) In response to the U.S. Supreme Court overturning of Roe v Wade, Skinner and the Legislative Women’s Caucus fought for and secured $200 million in state funds to support and expand abortion, abortion-related care, and reproductive health services across the state.
  • Preserving Point Molate (2022-2024). As chair of the Senate Budget Committee, Sen. Skinner secured $36 million in the 2022-23 state budget for the East Bay Regional Park District to purchase 80 acres within Point Molate on the Richmond shoreline to preserve it as publicly accessible parkland and open space. In 2024, the purchase of the Point Molate property along San Francisco Bay was completed.