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Charles Calderon

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Charles Calderon
California State Assembly District 58
Incumbent
In office
1980-1982, 2006-Present
Term ends
December 6, 2012
Years in position (current service)6
Years in position (previous service)2
PartyDemocratic
Leadership
State Assembly Majority Leader
2011-Present
Compensation
Base salary$95,290.56 per year
Per diem$141.86 per day
Elections and appointments
Last electionNovember 2, 2010
First elected1980
Next electionNovember 6, 2012
Term limits3 terms (6 years)
Prior offices
California State Senate
1990-1998
California State Assembly
1980-1982
Education
Bachelor'sCalifornia State University, Los Angeles
J.D.University of California, Davis
Personal
BirthdayMarch 12, 1950
Place of birthMontebello, California
ProfessionAttorney
Websites
Office website

Contents

Charles Calderon (b. March 12, 1950) is a Democratic member of the California State Assembly, currently serving as State Assembly Majority Floor Leader. He has represented the 58th District since 2006, and previously represented it from 1980-82. He served in the California State Senate from 1990-1998.

Calderon has served as Assistant General Counsel for the United States Department of Health, Education and Welfare, Partner in Nossamn, Guthner, Knox & Elliot, LLP, Consultant with the California Secretary of State, and Prosecutor in the Los Angeles City Attorney's Office.[1]

Calderon will be ineligible to run for re-election to the California State Assembly in 2012 due to term limits.

Issues

Political courage test

Calderon did not provide answers to the California State Legislative Election 2008 Political Courage Test. The test provides voters with how a candidate would vote on the issues if elected.[2]

Ballot initiatives

Calderon is the sponsor of California Assembly Constitutional Amendment 21 (2010). This legislation would require that any statewide ballot propositions proposed through the state's ballot initiative process would require a 2/3rds vote to pass, rather than a majority vote.

Legislative scorecard

Capitol Weekly, California's major weekly periodical covering the state legislature, publishes an annual legislative scorecard to pin down the political or ideological leanings of every member of the legislature based on how they voted on an assortment of bills in the most recent legislative session. The 2009 scores were based on votes on 19 bills, but did not include how legislators voted on the Proposition 1A (2009). On the scorecard, "100" is a perfect liberal score and "0" is a perfect conservative score. [3],[4]

On the 2009 Capitol Weekly legislative scorecard, Calderon ranked as a 69.[5]

Porn tax

In 2008, Calderon sponsored a bill that would have imposed a tax on California's "adult entertainment" business. Calderon's bill would have imposed a 25% tax on pornographic movies, strip club fees, pay-per-view films, sex toys and similar products. Since California's porn industry is thought to have annual sales of about $4 billion, the tax, if it had been enacted, would have generated about $665 million in tax revenue a year (assuming that sales of sex products did not decline).[6],[7]

In defense of his bill, Calderon said that adult entertainment creates an impact on society such as the costs incurred when law enforcement officials are called to strip clubs, and when county health care systems incur costs associated with the treatment of sexually transmitted diseases. Calderon also said that addiction to online sexual content has cost some men their jobs, leading to poverty and the use of food stamps and the state Medicaid program. As a result, Calderon saw that tax as a way for the adult entertainment industry to pay its fair share of these societal costs.[7]

Sponsored legislation

Calderon's sponsored legislation includes:

  • AB 104 - Income taxes: pensions
  • AB 689 - Cigarette and Tobacco Products Tax Law
  • AB 819 - Intellectual property piracy

For details and a full listing of sponsored bills, see the House site.

Committee assignments

2011-2012

In the 2011-2012 legislative session, Calderon has been appointed to these committees:

2009-2010

In the 2009-2010 legislative session, Calderon served on these committees:

Elections

2012

Calderon was ineligible to run for re-election due to term limits.

2010

See also: California State Assembly elections, 2010

Calderon won re-election to the 58th District Seat in 2010. He had no opposition in the June 8 primary. He defeated Republican Garrett M. May in the November 2 general election.[8]

California State Assembly, District 58 General Election (2010)
Candidates Votes
Charles Calderon (D) 61,375
Garrett M. May (R) 27,771

2008

In 2008 Calderon was re-elected to the California State Assembly District 58. Calderon (D) finished with 85,086 votes while his opponent Carlos Getino (R) finished with 35,867 votes.[9]

California State Assembly District 58
Candidates Votes
Charles Calderon (D) 85,086
Carlos Getino (R) 35,867

Campaign donors

2010

In 2010, Calderon raised $850,245 in contributions. [10]

His four largest contributors were:

Donor Amount
California State Pipe Trades Council $15,600
California Association Of Realtors $11,700
State Building & Construction Trades Council Of California $11,300
California Dental Association $11,300

2008

Below are Calderon's top 5 campaign contributors in the 2008 election:[11]

Contributor 2008 total
CA Assoc of Realtors $14,400
California State Council of Service Employees $14,400
Southern CA Pipe Trades District Council 16 $11,000
Youngs Market Co $10,800
CA State Assoc of Electrical Workers $10,200

Recent news

This section displays the most recent stories in a google news search for the term Charles + Calderon + California + Legislature

All stories may not be relevant to this legislator due to the nature of the search engine.
Failed to load RSS feed (not array) from http://news.google.com/news?hl=en&gl=us&q=Charles+Calderon+California+Legislature+&um=1&ie=UTF-8&output=rss

Personal

Calderon is married to Lisa. They have three children.

External links

Suggest a link

References

Political offices
Preceded by
-
California State Assembly District
1980-1982, 2006–present
Succeeded by
NA
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