Distrito 18 — Senado Estatal de California

Senator Bob Hertzberg is a native of Los Angeles, and grew up in a household where elders encouraged the children to share their views. His father, Harrison, was a lawyer, and his mother, Antoinette “Bunny,” raised her five sons to think for themselves.  At a young age, Bob learned from his father the importance of the law and that the law sometimes is not just or fair – something he now works to change.

After graduating from Palm Springs High, Hertzberg enrolled at the University of Redlands, where he pursued a double major in History as well as English, and graduated Magna Cum Laude. In 1979, Bob earned his law degree from Hastings College of the Law and became a member of the California Bar.

From 1996 to 2002, Hertzberg represented the San Fernando Valley in the California State Assembly and was unanimously elected the 64th Speaker of the California State Assembly by his peers.  During his time in the Assembly, Hertzberg helped shape and pass legislation that hammered out agriculture-to-urban water transfers, providing a framework to end nearly seven decades of California/Colorado River water disputes.

On the education front, Hertzberg helped increase funds available through the “Cal-Grants” program, giving poor students unprecedented access to colleges and universities. He also negotiated a compromise that allowed the California Legislature to break a decade-long logjam and place school bond-related measures on the 1998, 2000 and 2002 ballots. The resulting tens of billions in school construction funds became one of the largest municipal bond issuances in U.S. history. Hertzberg was also instrumental in establishing a University of California campus in Merced—the system’s 10th campus—to serve students in an underserved region.

As Speaker, Bob Hertzberg secured funding for the construction of Metro’s Orange Line, California State University Northridge Valley Performing Arts Center; and construction of miles of sound walls for the 5, 101, 170, and 405 Freeways.

Due to term limits, Hertzberg left the Assembly and became a global clean-energy entrepreneur. He traveled extensively, visiting much of China and numerous countries in Africa.

In recognition of his clean energy efforts in Rwanda, he received the “World Bank Award for Lighting Africa.” Hertzberg helped create one of the first solar companies in Los Angeles, winning the 2005 Wall Street Journal Innovation of the Year Award. And he co-launched a company that produced inexpensive, lightweight solar panels.

The United Kingdom-based Guardian, one of Europe’s leading newspapers, named him one of the “50 People Who Could Save the Planet.”

In 2014, community leaders recruited Bob to run for the 18th District of the California State Senate and secured more than 70 percent of the vote.

Hertzberg returned to the Legislature determined to work on governing for the next generation, not the next election. As such, he has taken on the tough issues of tax reform, environmental clean-up, equity in our justice system, and water policy.  Bob is working to find ways to deal with the long-term issues of the drought; renewable energy, with a focus on domesticating good paying jobs in California; and repairing the courts, which have become unfair to the underserved, indifferent to small businesses, and too expensive for the everyday Californian.

Hertzberg has two grown sons. David is a classical music composer and a Juilliard graduate, and Daniel graduated from Goucher College and, like his father, loves politics and public policy.