Sheila J. Kuehl, California Legislator

Biography

California legislator Sheila James Kuehl was born February 9, 1941 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her family moved to Los Angeles when Sheila was two years old, and she began working as an actress at the age of eight. From 1959 to 1963 she starred as Zelda Gilroy on the situation comedy The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis. She graduated from the University of California, Los Angeles in 1962 and from Harvard Law School in 1978. She returned to the Los Angeles area in the late 1970s, practicing family law and teaching at California State University, Long Beach, UCLA, and Loyola University. In 1989, she became the co-founder and managing director of the California Women's Law Center, where she remained legal counsel for several years. As of 2009, she continues to serve on the CWLC Board of Directors.

In 1994, Kuehl ran to succeed retiring State Assemblymember Terry Friedman in the 41st Assembly District; she won the six-way Democratic primary with 41 percent of the vote, then defeated Republican candidate Michael Meehan in the November general election by a margin of 56 to 41 percent. Her election was notable in that it made her the Capitol's first openly homosexual state legislator.

She was reelected with 55 percent of the vote in 1996 and 63 percent in 1998. In 2000, term limits forced Kuehl to retire from the Assembly; she ran for the 23rd Senate District seat of retiring State Senator Tom Hayden. Kuehl defeated fellow Assemblymember Wally Knox in the March 2000 open primary by a margin of 50 to 29 percent, and went on to win the November general election with over 70 percent of the vote. She was re-elected to the Senate in 2004 by a margin of 66 to 29 percent.

During Kuehl's tenure, the 41st Assembly District was located on the north coast of Los Angeles County, and contained the cities of Agoura Hills, Calabasas, Hidden Hills, Malibu, Santa Monica, and Westlake Village, as well as the Encino, Tarzana and Woodland Hills areas of the city of Los Angeles. The Democratic voter registration edge over Republicans remained steady at about 15 percent throughout the 1990s.

The 23rd Senate District contained all of Kuehl's former Assembly district as well as the city of West Hollywood in Los Angeles County, and the cities of Oxnard and Port Hueneme in Ventura County. Like Kuehl's Assembly district, it was heavily Democratic, containing roughly twice as many registered Democrats as Republicans throughout Kuehl's time in office.

According to the Pocket Directory of the California Legislature, Kuehl served on the following committees:

State Assembly, 1995-2000

Standing Committees

Appropriations, 1997-2000

Education, 1996

Health, 1999-2000

Higher Education, 1997-1998

Human Services, 1995, 1997-1998

Information Technology, 1998

Judiciary, 1995, 1997-2000

*Chair, 1999-2000

Local Government, 2000

Natural Resources, 1995

Public Safety, 1995, 1997

Revenue and Taxation, 1996

*Vice Chair, 1996

Rules, 1995

Televising the Assembly and Information Technology, 1997

Water, Parks and Wildlife, 1996, 1999-2000

Select Committees

California's Children, 1996

California's Women, 1997-1998

*Chair, 1997-1998

Construction Fraud, 2000

Domestic Violence, 2000

Earthquake Safety and Preparedness, 2000

Entertainment and the Arts, 1998-2000

*Chair, 1999-2000

Insolvency of Orange County, 1995-1996

San Gabriel Valley Groundwater Contamination, 2000

State Senate, 2000-2008

Standing Committees

Agriculture, 2006-2008

Agriculture and Water Resources, 2001-2004

Appropriations, 2007-2008

Budget and Fiscal Review, 2001-2006

Environmental Quality, 2001-2008

Government Modernization, Efficiency, and Accountability, 2005-2006

Health, 2005-2008

*Chair, 2007-2008

Health and Human Services, 2001-2004

Judiciary, 2001-2008

Labor and Industrial Relations, 2001-2008

Natural Resources and Water, 2001-2008

*Chair, 2001-2006

Subcommittees

Budget and Fiscal Review-Resources, Environmental Protection, Judiciary,

Transportation and Energy, 2002-2006

*Chair, 2005-2006

Environmental Quality-Toxic Materials, 2006

Health-Aging and Long Term Care, 200

Health-Stem Cell Research Oversight, 2005-

Health and Human Services-Aging and Long Term Care, 2003-2004

Health and Human Services-California's Emergency Medical Services, 2003-2004

Health and Human Services-King/Drew Medical Facility, 2004

Judiciary-Anti-Competitive Conduct and the Marketplace, 2006

Judiciary-Bad Faith Liability and Consumer Rights, 2002-2004

Natural Resources and Water-Delta Resources, 2005-2006

Select Committees

California Correctional System, 2003-2006

California's Role in the World Trade Organization, 2001

*Chair, 2001

Children, Youth and Families, 2006

Developmental Disabilities and Mental Health, 2001-2006

Entertainment Industry, 2003-2004

Forestry, 2001-2002

Gender Discrimination and Title IX Implementation, 2008

Genetics and Public Policy, 2001

Genetics, Genetic Technologies and Public Policy, 2002-2004

Health Care Crisis in California, 2005-2006

*Chair, 2005-2006

Health Care for All Californians, 2003-2004

*Chair, 2003-2004

Health Effects of Radioactive and Chemical Contamination, 2007-2008

*Chair, 2007-2008

High School Graduation, 2007-2008

International Trade Policy and State Legislation, 2002, 2004

*Chair, 2002

*Vice Chair, 2004

Investigate Price Manipulation of the Wholesale Energy Market, 2002-2003

Percholarate Contamination, 2004-2006

Regulation of Talent Agencies, 2002

School Safety, 2001-2008

*Chair, 2001-2008

Urban Economic Development, 2003-2004

Joint Committees

Arts, 1998-2008

Rules, 2007-2008

Kuehl served as Speaker Pro Tempore of the Assembly, from December 1996 to November 1998. She was the first woman to hold this position.

From the guide to the Sheila J. Kuehl Papers, 1995-2008, (California State Archives)