Senator Bowen's Biography and Legislative Record

This is a copy of information on Senator Bowen's Senate web site , reformatted to be easier to read.

A lawmaker for more than a decade, Senator Debra Bowen (D-Redondo Beach) continues to focus her attention on helping Californians improve their quality of life. Helping people take part in our democracy and get access to state government, giving them tools to protect their privacy and their pocketbook, and investing in California's natural resources and its children are the underlying themes that sum up Senator Bowen’s overall approach to being a state lawmaker.

Born in Rockford, Illinois, Bowen graduated from Michigan State University in 1976 and earned her law degree from the University of Virginia in 1979. In 1984, she started her own California law firm specializing in small business start-ups, tax law, land use, and environmental issues, while her long history of community activism began when she got involved with her local Neighborhood Watch program.

Bowen was elected to represent the 53rd Assembly District in 1992 and was re-elected in 1994 and 1996 before being elected to represent the 28th Senate District in 1998. Bowen was re-elected to her second and final four-year Senate term in 2002, representing the reapportioned 28th District which stretches from Venice in the north, down the coast to Redondo Beach, then east to include all or parts of Carson, San Pedro, Long Beach, and Wilmington.

During her time in office, Senator Bowen has focused her attention on:

Restoring Confidence In California’s Electoral Process – Amid the controversy over the accuracy and security of electronic voting machines, Bowen’s SB 370 (2005) requires all election results to be audited using the paper record produced by the new machines. Her SB 469 (2005), which sought to require initiative petition signature gatherers to reveal the top five contributors to the measure, and SB 1050 (2005), which would have required elections officials to count all ballots for write-in candidates, were both vetoed.
Bowen’s SB 11 (2005) preventing voting equipment manufacturers from making campaign contributions and precluding the Secretary of State from endorsing candidates cleared the Senate and is still pending in the Legislature. Her early proposals to allow anyone to sign up to be a permanent absentee voter (AB 2446 [1993] and AB 500 [1995]) were defeated before finally becoming law in 2001. Bowen has also undertaken long-term efforts to enact comprehensive campaign finance reforms (AB 1993 [1993], AB 3694 [1994], AB 1814 [1995], AB 1816 [1995], AB 2381 [1996], and SB1169 [1999]) and ban gifts to lawmakers (AB 3429 [1996]), though all the proposals have been defeated in the Legislature.
Opening Government To The People – Bowen’s AB 1624 (1993) unlocked the Legislature's computer files and has given computer users worldwide Internet access to information about bills, committee analyses, legislators' voting records, and much more. Her AB 1577 (1995) created the "California Digital Signature Act," the nation's first law to allow state agencies to use digital signatures and basic encryption procedures to streamline government services. Her AB 179 (1997) and SB 1065 (1999) to give people electronic access to California’s public records were vetoed, but Californians gained that right in 2000 thanks to AB 2799 (Shelley-Bowen). Meanwhile, Bowen’s SB 1753 (2002) requires the state’s Independent System Operator to open its meetings and records to people interested in following the actions of this energy-related agency.
Helping Californians Protect Their Privacy – Bowen’s landmark, first-in-the-nation SB 168 (2001) makes it much more difficult for criminals to commit identity theft. First, the law prevents businesses from using Social Security numbers as public identifiers. Second, it gives people the right to freeze access to their credit reports, which foils identity thieves attempting to get loans and credit cards in their name.
Her SB 25 (2003) expanded the Social Security number confidentiality laws to cover public schools, colleges, universities and government agencies, and required credit issuers to honor the fraud alerts people place on their credit reports, while SB 13 (2005) sets strict privacy and security safeguards for government agencies to follow before releasing anyone’s sensitive personal information, including their Social Security number. SB 1016 (2005) helps protect voters from identity theft by making sure the signature they put on their voter registration form is kept confidential, just as Social Security numbers and driver's license numbers on voter records are protected.
Her SB 1016 (1999), SB 1822 (2000), and SB 147 (2001) all of which were vetoed by the Governor would have required employers to tell workers about company e-mail and Internet monitoring. Bowens SB 1090 (2001) prevents satellite television companies from secretly tracking and selling data on what people watch on television. Her SB 1765 (2002) to prevent companies from misleading consumers into believing they have to turn in so-called warranty cards in order to make a products warranty effective also became law.
Protecting California Consumers – Bowen’s SB 772 (2002) requires Internet service providers to give people 30 days notice before cutting off their service, while her SB 1872 (2002) requires companies to issue refunds to people within a week of returning items purchased over the Internet. AB 1676 (1998) gave people the ability to fight back against unsolicited e-mail ads, better known as "spam," while her SB 833 (2005) made it illegal to send fax advertisements to people without their permission.
Bowen’s SB 390 (2005) places fee disclosure and court approval requirements on companies offering cash advances to people who are expecting an inheritance. AB 1994 (1998) created landmark disclosure and service requirements for pre-paid phone card companies to let consumers know what they’re paying for before they buy a card. Her SB 932 (1999) to enact “The Telephone Consumers’ Bill of Rights” was defeated in the Legislature, but her SB 1741 (2000) requiring the state to create new area codes for the convenience of telephone users, not telephone companies, did become law.
Under her SB 189 (2001), potential renters and homebuyers get upfront notice if the home theyre planning to move into once housed a methamphetamine lab, while Bowens SB 521 (2003) requires the Office of Ratepayer Advocates to give priority to the concerns of residential and small business customers when dealing with electricity rate issues.
Protecting California's Environment & Energy Resources – A leader in the fight to care for and invest in California's precious environmental landscape, Bowen chaired the Assembly Natural Resources Committee during the 1997-98 legislative session. Her AB 2439 (1998) to protect drinking water supplies from the pollution created by two-stroke marine engines didn’t pass the Legislature, but it drove the state Air Resources Board to adopt similar protections.
SB 666 (2003) transferred 64 acres of sensitive wetlands habitat area in Los Angeles County to the state in order to protect it from development. As the chairwoman of the Senate Energy, Utilities & Communications Committee, Bowen wrote SB 1298 (2000), which required the Air Resources Board to adopt strict emissions standards for small, on-site power plants, known as distributed generation facilities.
While her AB 2432 (1998), SB 280 (2000), and SB 1085 (2001) to require the state to build energy efficient buildings to save energy and taxpayer dollars didn't become law, her fight for energy conservation programs in 2001 helped Californians reduce their energy usage, save money, and avoid rolling blackouts during the states energy crisis. Bowens SB 1790 (2002) required the Public Utilities Commission to create an air conditioner cycling program to help people save energy, while her SB 1143 (2002) sought to require the California Energy Commission to significantly increase the amount of renewable electrical power generated in the state.
Protecting California’s Women & Children – Bowen’s SB 536 (2005) requires the state to create strict cleanup standards for methamphetamine labs found in homes and apartments, while her SB 1088 (2005) prevents lawyers representing parents in child custody disputes from talking privately with a judge without the other party being told about it. Bowen’s SB 543 (1999) requires counties to maintain up-to-date health and education records for foster children and eliminates the ability of a non-custodial parent to decide whether a child should receive psychotropic medications while in foster care.
Her SB 1089 (1999) required the Department of Social Services to develop a training program on Post Traumatic Stress Disorder for social workers, teachers, law enforcement officials, and others who regularly work with foster children. Bowen’s SB 1611 (2000) makes it easier for county juvenile justice commissions to identify abuse and neglect in children's group homes, while her SB 140 (2001) protects children and the elderly from becoming victims of financial abuse and losing their estates to unscrupulous guardians and conservators.
Her SB 1080 (2001) penalizes health care providers who don't give women information on how to detect gynecological cancers - information designed to help women who have cancer get diagnosed and treated as quickly as possible. Bowens SB 969 (2003) ensures people handing out telephone medical advice are licensed to give it, while her SB 932 (2003) prevents non-profit hospitals from imposing restrictions on or limiting the types of services a new owner of the facility can provide.

Senator Bowen is the chairwoman of the Senate Elections, Reapportionment & Constitutional Amendments Committee and serves on the Energy, Utilities & Communications and Rules committees.

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