Speier, Jackie, 1950-

<p>Congresswoman Jackie Speier (pronounced SPEAR) is a fearless fighter for women’s equality, LGBTQ rights and the disenfranchised who has dedicated her life to eliminating government corruption while working to strengthen America’s national and economic security. She was named to Newsweek’s list of 150 “Fearless Women” in the world and one of “Politico's 50” most influential people in American politics for bringing the Me Too reckoning to Congress.</p>

<p>She proudly represents California’s 14th Congressional District, stretching from the southern portion of San Francisco through San Mateo County to East Palo Alto, and serves on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC) and as the Chair of the Military Personnel Subcommittee, on the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence and on the House Committee on Oversight and Reform, where she serves on the Subcommittees on Environment and Government Operations. Speier is also Co-Chair of the Democratic Women's Caucus (DWC), the Congressional Armenian Caucus, the Bipartisan Task Force To End Sexual Violence, and the Gunviolence Prevention Task Force.</p>

<p>In October 2017, Congresswoman Speier brought the Me Too movement to Congress by sharing her own experience of misconduct when she was a Congressional aide. Her legislation, the ME TOO Congress Act, became the basis of the bipartisan Congressional Accountability Act (CAA) Reform Act that was signed into law in December 2018. When Speier first started working on Congressional sexual harassment in 2014, she was told by a fellow colleague that even anti-harassment training would never see the light of day. Today, thanks to the CAA Reform Act and a related resolution, anti-harassment training is mandatory; survivors are no longer forced to undergo mandatory counselling, mediation, and cooling-off periods; and workers can’t be silenced with forced non-disclosure agreements. Moreover, interns and fellows have the same protections as permanent staff; employees can be heard in anonymous and regular climate surveys; and Members must personally cover the costs for their harassing behavior, not taxpayers. As a result of these efforts, employees also now have legal representation and counseling through the Office of Employee Advocacy, so that the U.S. House of Representatives is no longer exclusively providing counsel to Member offices accused of misconduct.</p>

<p>Karen Lorraine Jacqueline Speier (/spɪər/ SPEAR; born May 14, 1950) is an American lawyer and politician who currently serves as a U.S. Representative for California's 14th congressional district, serving in Congress since 2008. She is a member of the Democratic Party. The district, numbered as the 12th District from 2008 to 2013, includes the northern two-thirds of San Mateo County and the southwest quarter of San Francisco. She represents much of the territory that had been represented by her political mentor, Leo Ryan. In 1978, while working as his aide, Speier survived five gunshot wounds she received when Ryan was assassinated during the Jonestown massacre.</p>

<p>Speier was a member of the California State Senate, representing parts of San Francisco and San Mateo counties. On April 8, 2008, she won the special election for the vacated United States House of Representatives seat of the late Congressman Tom Lantos.</p>

<p>A Caltrain Express locomotive is named in her honor.</p>

SPEIER, Karen Lorraine Jacqueline (Jackie), a Representative from California; born in San Francisco, San Francisco County, Calif., May 14, 1950; graduated from Mercy High School, Burlingame, Calif., 1968; B.A., University of California, Davis, Calif., 1972; J.D., University of California Hastings School of Law, San Francisco, Calif., 1976; staff, United States Representative Leo Joseph Ryan of California, 1973-1978; lawyer, private practice; San Mateo County, Calif., supervisor, 1980-1986; member of the California state assembly, 1986-1998; member of the California state senate, 1998-2006; unsuccessful candidate for the special election to fill the vacancy caused by the death of United States Representative Leo Joseph Ryan of California in 1979; unsuccessful candidate for election for lieutenant governor of California in 2006;elected as a Democrat to the One Hundred Tenth Congress, by special election, to fill the vacancy caused by the death of United States Representative Thomas Peter Lantos, and reelected to the seven succeeding Congresses (April 8, 2008-present).