Title: Chair of the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee
Resume: DeSaulnier’s career in public office began in 1991, when he served as mayor and city council member of Concord. He also served on the Concord Planning Commission and was a member of the University of California Toxic Substances Research and Teaching Program Advisory Committee. In 1994, DeSaulnier was appointed to the Contra Costa County Board of Supervisors. He was re-elected three times. In 2006, DeSaulnier was elected to represent California’s 11th State Assembly district. In 2008, he was elected to represent California’s 7th state Senate district.
Schools: DeSaulnier earned his bachelor of arts in history from the College of the Holy Cross.
Awards: leadership award, from commercial, health, criminal, animal rights, and environmental organizations.
Committees: In the state Senate, DeSaulnier chairs the Labor and Industrial Relations Committee. He also sits on the Budget and Fiscal Review Committee, the Transportation and Housing Committee, the Local Government Committee, and the Elections, Reapportionment and Constitutional Amendments. He is also a member of a handful of subcommittees, joint committees, task forces, boards, and no fewer than 12 select committees.
Mentors: DeSaulnier says that the state Senate Labor Committee staff and 35 years of experience as a small-business and restaurant owner have taught him what he knows about workers’ comp.
Book: He recently finished reading Wealth and Democracy by Kevin Phillips.
Favorite Quote: “In any moment of decision, the best thing you can do is the right thing. The worst thing you can do is nothing.” (Theodore Roosevelt)

Senator DeSaulnier has been the leading presence on the Senate Labor and Industrial Relations Committee, the main Senate policy committee on workers’ comp issues. He’s hosted numerous oversight hearings taking various officials to task, including most recently the Department of Industrial Relations and the Division of Workers’ Compensation over their failure to produce an updated permanent disability rating schedule. DeSaulnier has authored and had signed into law legislation extending predesignation of physicians for injured workers and increasing fines for failure to carry workers’ comp insurance. He was elected to the Senate in 2008 and represents most of Contra Costa County.