2013 Committee Information will be added soon
Biography:
Jack Scott is the State Senator from the 21st District which includes Pasadena, Glendale, Burbank, a portion of the city of Los Angeles, and other surrounding cities and communities. Senator Scott was elected to the Senate in 2000 by a margin of over 50,000 votes, and reelected in 2004 with 78% of the vote - a victory margin of over 150,000 votes. Senator Scott serves as Chair of the Senate Committee on Education, which considers all legislative measures dealing with K-12 education and the state's colleges and universities. His committee has legislative oversight for a wide range of issues dealing with education: public and charter schools, pupil achievement, teacher quality, financial aid, and higher education access and affordability. Senator Scott is also Chair of the Senate Budget Subcommittee on Education, which oversees approximately 48 percent of California's state budget. He serves as a member of the Senate committees on Budget; Banking, Finance & Insurance; and Revenue & Taxation; and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee. He also chairs the Joint Committee on the Arts and the Subcommittee on Higher Education. Prior to serving in the Senate, Senator Scott was a State Assemblyman from 1996 to 2000. During his tenure in the Assembly, Senator Scott had the highest legislative success rate in the Assembly of bills signed into law, with over 62 percent (47 bills) becoming law. These key measures include landmark legislation requiring all handguns sold in California to have trigger locks, streamlining the transfer process for community college students, preventing senior financial fraud, ensuring that HMO's make prompt payments to doctors and hospitals, imposing tough new gift and loan restrictions on elected officials, ending credit insurance rip-offs, streamlining the adoption process, making interest on student loans tax deductible, and a package of bills to increase the supply and quality of teachers in California's classrooms. As Chair of the Assembly Insurance Committee in 2000, Scott led the oversight hearings into the actions of the Department of Insurance following the Northridge Earthquake. These hearings ultimately led to the resignation of Commissioner Chuck Quackenbush and the enactment of significant insurance reforms. Because of his legislative leadership, Jack Scott has been named Legislator of the Year by many organizations, including the California Federation of Teachers, the Association of Independent Colleges and Universities, Association of California Community College Administrators, Association of California School Boards, California State University, California Association of Health Facilities, Child Development Policy Institute and the California Trucking Association. Jack Scott was born in Sweetwater, Texas, and graduated from high school there. He met his future wife, Lacreta, while they were students at Abilene Christian College. They were married in 1954 shortly after Jack received his Bachelor's degree. He later earned a Master of Divinity degree from Yale University, as well as a Ph.D. degree in American history from Claremont Graduate University. In 1962, Jack Scott and his family moved to Los Angeles where he joined the faculty at Pepperdine University. After ten years as a teacher and administrator at Pepperdine, he became the Dean of Instruction at Orange Coast College in 1973. Five years later, in 1978, he became the President of Cypress College. Dr. Scott assumed the presidency of Pasadena City College in August 1987. With 28,000 students, PCC is the third largest community college campus in the nation, offering classes in more than 60 academic and 70 career-related vocational areas. The hallmark of Dr. Scott's presidency was the launching of a $100 million master plan to meet the college's needs into the 21st century. The plan included a new library (completed in October 1993); a parking structure housing 2000 cars (completed in January 1995); a child development center (completed in April 1996); and a community education center (completed in May 1996). Plans were made and funding for a new physical education facility was secured during his presidency; the construction was completed on this building in 1999. The 1990's brought hard times for many community colleges in California, but Pasadena City College was a shining exception to the rule. Although state funding declined during Scott's presidency, the college balanced its budget, laid off no members of its faculty or staff, and maintained an educational program of high quality. PCC had reserve funds of more than $6 million when he retired in November 1995. In addition to being a member of the State Senate, Jack Scott is a Distinguished Professor of Higher Education at Pepperdine University. Throughout his career, Jack Scott has been active in civic and community affairs. He was a co-founder of the Coalition for a Non-Violent City in Pasadena. Dr. Scott also served on the Board of Trustees at Pacific Oaks College and the Board of Regents at Pepperdine University. He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Santa Monica Conservancy. He is a past president of the Association of California Community Colleges Administrators and the former chair of the Accrediting Commission of Western Association of Schools and Colleges. Jack Scott is also an accomplished writer. His book on John Witherspoon, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, was published by the University of Delaware Press in 1982. His articles have appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Pasadena Star-News, the Glendale News-Press, and national magazines. Dr. Scott received an honorary doctorate from Pepperdine University in 1991. In 1993 he received the Harry Buttimer Award, given annually to two distinguished administrators in California Community Colleges. He was named the Alumnus of the Year at Claremont Graduate University in 2000 and at Abilene Christian University in 2003. Senator Scott's wife, Lacreta, received her Bachelor of Arts degree from Pepperdine University and her M.A. in English from the California State University at Long Beach. She is a retired member of the English faculty at Cerritos College and writes a monthly column for three newspapers. Jack and Lacreta have five children: Sharon Mitchell, Sheila Head, Amy Schones, and Greg Scott; their fifth child, Adam, died in 1993 at the age of 27. The Scott family also includes eleven grandchildren.
| Cosponsorship of Key Legislation |
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Cosponsor of this Legislation? |
112 S.J.RES.36 Ambush Election: S.J.Res.36 - disapproves and nullifies the rule submitted by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) and published December 22, 2011, relating to representation election procedures. (Introduced Feb. 16, 2012) AGC POSITION: SUPPORT
| Support |  |
112 S. 2245 Wetlands: Preserve the Waters of the United States Act (S.2245) - would stop the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) from implementing their final guidance on waters of the U.S. (Introduced Mar. 28, 2012) AGC POSITION: SUPPORT
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Sponsored legislation we support |
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Sponsored legislation we are monitoring |
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Sponsored legislation we oppose |
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Not a sponsor of this legislation |