Senator Bruce McPherson Biography

Senator Bruce McPherson, a long-time supporter of public education and former journalist, was reelected to the 15th Senate District in the California State Senate in November 2000. Prior to serving his first term in the Senate from 1996 to 2000, he served in the Assembly, representing the 27th District from 1993 to 1996.

McPherson is Chairman of the Senate Public Safety Committee, Vice-Chairman of the Senate Education Committee, and a member of the Environmental Quality Committee and two Budget Sub-Committees. He is also Chairman of the Sub-Committee on Criminal Procedure.

McPherson is a member of the California Coastal Conservancy and serves on four Joint Committees including the Arts, the Master Plan for Education, and Fisheries and Aquaculture. He serves as Chairman of the Senate Select Committee on Anti-Terrorism Policy, and on twelve other Senate Select Committee's including Bay Area Infrastructure, Bay Area Transportation, Baylands Acquisition, California's Correctional System, California's Horseracing Industry, California's Wine Industry, College and University Admissions and Outreach, Economic Development, Government Oversight, Immigration and Economy, School Safety, and Technological Crime and the Consumer.

McPherson has been a long-time advocate of public education and has played a leading role in shaping new policy in such areas as class-size reduction, updating core curriculum, establishing graduation standards, providing more money for textbooks and passing $3 billion and $9 billion state school bonds. He and his wife Mary established endowments to create a dropout prevention program and to enhance the athletic programs for students in the Santa Cruz City School District. He also spearheaded the creation of a literacy program in Santa Cruz County when he was president of the Santa Cruz Rotary Club.

He has also been instrumental in protecting our natural resources, casting the deciding vote to prohibit drilling for oil off of the California coastline. He has been successful in securing funding to buy the 7000-acre Coast Dairies property in Santa Cruz County, which will preserve over 7 miles of coastline and he was also able to secure funding to buy the 260-acre Bombay property in Santa Cruz. Furthermore, he was able to obtain $2.1 million to help fight pitch canker -- the deadly tree fungus killing Monterey Pines in 17 counties up and down the coast. He has also authored bills to assure public access to the coast, continue the "mussel" watch program that detects toxic elements in our seawater and to post signs that warn of contaminated waters along the coastline.

McPherson authored and passed some very important pieces of legislation to reform the election process. He has authored legislation that would require candidates to post their FPPC reports on-line and to ensure there is no duplicative voting by requiring voters to be recognized by a unique identifier. He also authored legislation to create a bipartisan commission to study the effectiveness of the Political Reform Act, and has continuously pushed for campaign finance reform.

McPherson's dedication has not gone unrecognized. He received the California State University Alumni Council's "Friend of Higher Education" award in 1995. In 1997, he was named "Legislator of the Year" by the University of California Alumni Association and "Public Official of the Year" by the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary Council. In 1998, the Association of California Community College Administrators named him "1998 Friend of Community Colleges," and he was also honored with the Simon Wiesenthal Museum of Tolerance Award for his work in education. In 1998-99, McPherson was honored with the "Friend of Public Education" award by the Association of California School Administrators. In 1999, he was named "Legislator of the Year" by the California School Boards Association. In 2000, the California Small Business Association named him "Legislator of the Year", as did the California Educational Theatre Association. In 2001, McPherson has been the recipient of the "Leadership Award" by the Legal Community Against Violence and the "Public Policy Excellence Award for Public Policy" by the California Non-Profit Policy Council. The California League of High Schools has named him "Legislator of the Year" for 2001, and the California School Boards Association has named him "2001 Outstanding Legislator of the Year." In April 2002, he was honored as "Legislator of the Year" by Crime Victims United. Most recently, in 2003, Senator McPherson was named the "Legislator of the Year" by both the California Association of School Counselors and the California Industrial Technology Education Association.

Senator McPherson is a fourth generation Santa Cruz native and his wife Mary have been married 35 years. Their daughter, Tori, and her husband Dave, have one child, Sydney. Sadly, the McPhersons lost their beloved son Hunter in a senseless act of violence late last year. The 15th Senate District includes the counties of Santa Cruz, Monterey and San Luis Obispo, the southeast portion of Santa Clara County and the northern portion of Santa Barbara County.