The publication is reproduced in full below:
RECOGNIZING STATE SENATOR JIM BEALL OF CALIFORNIA
______
HON. NORMA J. TORRES
of california
in the house of representatives
Friday, June 11, 2021
Mrs. TORRES of California. Madam Speaker, I rise today to honor my friend, California State Senator Jim Beall. After more than 40 years of dedicated public service to Santa Clara County, Jim recently retired at the end of his term.
As a Santa Clara County native, Jim spent his formative years in San Jose as one of ten children. He lived in a home where money was tight and worked in the crop fields as a teenager, learning the values of a hard day's work, self-reliance, and giving back to his community. Jim put his passion for public service to work at the age of 24 when he served on the San Jose City Planning Commission, and at age 28, he became the youngest person ever elected to the San Jose City Council. As a council member, Jim worked to fix and update the county's infrastructure and expand affordable housing. His role in creating San Jose's Housing Department was key to the development and growth of the city he loved serving. Jim's efforts to bring new and updated access to the San Jose Community as chair of the Santa Clara County Traffic Authority led him to be the first in California to successfully pass a half-cent sales tax increase to raise funds to help build Highways 85, 101, and 237. Later as a member of the Santa Clara County Board of Supervisors, Jim followed through on his commitment to increasing access to healthcare and mental health services and worked with his colleagues to pass the Children's Health Initiative, which ensured every child in the county had health insurance.
Jim continued his public service as a member of both the California State Assembly and California State Senate. Jim passed major infrastructure bills including SB1, one of the largest infrastructure bills in California's history which created over 150,000 new jobs and repaired and updated roads, and SB 595 which supported regional transportation projects in the San Francisco Bay Area. He also worked on a number of public safety bills including passing Audrie's Law, a bill that empowered survivors of sexual assault by reforming juvenile sexual assault statutes. As a lifelong advocate for foster youth, Jim authored first-in-the-nation legislation to extend foster youth benefits to more young people and passed college access bills that have led to higher graduation rates of foster youth. Jim also championed the cause to improve mental health treatment by authoring several bills that increased access to such services and played a critical role in ensuring California healthcare plans included mental health and substance abuse disorder treatment. Through his final term in the California State Senate that ended in December 2020, Jim has worked tirelessly and selflessly for his community and the list of his legislative accomplishments goes on and on.
I was lucky to serve with Jim in both the California State Assembly and in the State Senate. I was always impressed by his thoughtfulness and dedication to improving his community and state. As he moves on to a new phase of his career, I am pleased to recognize his incredible work for the Golden State.
For his remarkable accomplishments, it is my honor to recognize Jim Beall. His decades of commitment and contributions to the City of San Jose, Santa Clara County, and the State of California are worthy of commendation and admiration.
____________________
SOURCE: Congressional Record Vol. 167, No. 102
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