Ted Lieu

Ted Lieu
Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from California's 33rd district
Incumbent
Assumed office January 3, 2015
Preceded by	Henry Waxman
Member of the California State Senate from the 28th district
In office February 18, 2011 – November 30, 2014
Preceded by	Jenny Oropeza
Succeeded by	Ben Allen (redistricted)
Member of the California State Assembly from the 53rd district
In office September 21, 2005 – November 30, 2010
Preceded by	Mike Gordon
Succeeded by	Betsy Butler
Personal details
Born	(1969-03-29) March 29, 1969 Taipei, Taiwan
Political party	Democratic
Spouse(s)	Betty Lieu
Children	Brennan Austin
Residence	Torrance, California
Alma mater	Stanford University (B.S.) Georgetown University (J.D.)
Profession	Attorney
Religion	Catholic[1]
Website	lieu.house.gov
Military service
Allegiance	United States of America
Service/branch	United States Air Force Reserve
Rank	Colonel
Unit	Judge Advocate General's Corps
Awards	Air Force Commendation Medal Air Force Distinguished Service Medal

Ted W. Lieu (born March 29, 1969) is a Democratic member of the United States House of Representatives, representing California's 33rd congressional district since 2015. He was a California State Senator, who represented the 28th Senate District from February 2011 to November 2014, after being elected to fill the seat of deceased Senator Jenny Oropeza. Lieu was also a California State Assemblyman, who represented the 53rd Assembly District from September 2005 to November 2010, after being elected to fill the seat of deceased Assemblyman Mike Gordon.

Education

Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Lieu's family immigrated to Cleveland, Ohio, where he grew up. Lieu graduated from Stanford University in 1991 with a B.S. in Computer Science and an A.B. in Political Science and graduated magna cum laude with a J.D. from Georgetown University Law Center in 1994, where he was Editor in Chief of the Georgetown Law Journal and received four American Jurisprudence awards.^[2]

He also served as a law clerk to Judge Thomas Tang of the United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit.^[3]

Military career

He holds the rank of Colonel in the United States Air Force Reserves.^[4] He served on active duty for 4 years as a member of the JAG Corps. As a military prosecutor and adviser to commanders, he has received various awards and medals for his service, both abroad and locally, including the Meritorious Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, the Air Force Commendation Medal, and the Air Force Humanitarian Service Medal.^[2]

California Legislature

Lieu previously served as Torrance City Councilman.^[5]

Assembly

Lieu won a September 13, 2005, special election to fill the 53rd Assembly district following the death of incumbent Mike Gordon. Lieu defeated three Republicans, including businesswoman Mary Jo Ford and fellow Torrance City Councilman Paul Nowatka.^[6]

He was re-elected in November 2006 and again in November 2008.^[7]

Lieu was Chair of the Assembly Rules Committee. He was a member of the Assembly Governmental Organization Committee, Assembly Judiciary Committee and Assembly Veterans Affairs Committee. Lieu was also Chair of the Asian Pacific Islander Legislative Caucus and Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Aerospace.^[8]

In 2008, in a surprising twist of events in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) English language controversy, Sen. Leland Yee of San Francisco and Assemblyman Ted Lieu of Los Angeles were able to help rescind the LPGA Tour Commission’s suspension-penalty policy for players who failed to learn enough English to speak to sponsors and at award ceremonies. Both officials publicly challenged the legality and galvanized community attention to the LPGA’s policy in August 2008 when it was released, which resulted in revision of policy by the end of 2008.^[9][10]

Lieu is a strong supporter of expansion of public transit in West Los Angeles, LAX, and the South Bay.^[11]

Lieu also co-authored a successful bill to bypass environmental quality regulations to build a football stadium in Los Angeles. The bill was intended to help the efforts of developer Edward P. Roski persuade the National Football League to return to the city. The bill was controversial with many environmentalists and legislators.^[12] Further controversy ensued when it was announced that Roski had given over $500,000 to political campaigns, including $13,000 to Assemblyman Lieu.^[13]

Legislation as an assemblyman

As an assemblyman, he authored laws in the areas of public safety, child sex offenders, domestic violence, the environment, education, health care, veterans’ issues and transportation.

Some of his legislative actions include the following:

• AB 1900 helps prevent convicted child sex offenders from working with children (Chapter 340, Statutes of 2006)^[14]
• ABx2 7, the California Foreclosure Prevention Act,^[15] requires lenders to operate a comprehensive home loan modification program or face a 90-day foreclosure moratorium. This is the first law of its kind in the nation (Chapter 5, Statutes of 2009)
• AB 2052 allows a victim of domestic violence to break a rental lease if the victim provides a police report or temporary restraining order to the landlord (Chapter 440, Statutes of 2008)
• AB 86 gives school districts the ability to discipline students who engage in cyber-bullying (Chapter 646, Statutes of 2008)^[16]
• AB 800 requires reporting of sewage spills, thereby allowing the local public safety officials to close down beaches and public areas affected by such spills (Chapter 371, Statutes of 2007)^[17]
• AB 236 mandates the state to prioritize the purchase of fleet cars to enhance fuel efficiency and carbon reduction, and requires alternative-fuel-capable vehicles to use alternative fuels (Chapter 593, Statutes of 2007)^[18]
• AB 392 requires employers to give spouses of Armed Forces members returning from deployment two weeks of unpaid leave if requested by the spouse (Chapter 361, Statutes of 2007)^[19] and
• AB 1150 bans health insurance companies from providing financial incentives to their employees for terminating health care coverage of patients (Chapter 188, Statutes of 2008).^[20]

Run for Attorney General

Lieu sought the Democratic nomination in the California Attorney General election, 2010. He was defeated by Kamala Harris and finished fourth in the June primary.

California Senate

Lieu won a February 15, 2011, special election to fill the 28th Senate district following the death of incumbent Jenny Oropeza. Lieu defeated four Republicans, one Democrat, and two independents.^[21]

On January 30, 2014, Senator Lieu voted in favor of California Senate Constitutional Amendment 5.^[22][23] The proposed bill asks California voters to repeal provisions of Proposition 209 and permit state universities to consider an applicant's race, ethnicity or national origin in making admissions decisions. After hearing strong opposition to the bill from Asian-American community, Senator Lieu, along with Senators Leland Yee and Carol Liu who had also voted for the bill, jointly issued a statement on February 27, calling for the bill to be withheld pending further consultations with the "affected communities."^[24]

Legislation as a state senator

Some of his legislative actions as a state senator include the following:

• SB 698 – Workforce Development Funds (Chapter 497, Statutes of 2011)
• SB 746 – Tanning and Cancer Prevention (Chapter 664, Statutes of 2011)
• SB 757 – Insurance Equality for Domestic Partners (Chapter 722, Statutes of 2011)
• SB 857 – Protecting the Right to Strike (Chapter 539, Statutes of 2011)
• SB 917 – Curbing Animal Abuse and Neglect (Chapter 131, Statutes of 2011)
• SB 661 – Funeral Protests (Chapter 354, Statutes of 2012)
• SB 921 – National Guard Inspector General (Chapter 731, Statutes of 2012)
• SB 1055 – Rental Payment Flexibility (Chapter 268, Statutes of 2012)
• SB 1058 – Victims of Corporate Fraud (Chapter 564, Statutes of 2012)
• SB 1066 – Climate Change (Chapter 611, Statutes of 2012)
• SB 1172 – Sexual Orientation Change Therapies (Chapter 835, Statutes of 2012)
• SB 1210 – Victim’s Restitution (Chapter 762, Statutes of 2012)
• SB 1221 – Hounding of Bears and Bobcats (Chapter 595, Statutes of 2012)
• SB 1272 - Campaign finance: advisory election (Chapter 175, Statutes of 2014)
• SB 1402 – Workforce Development (Chapter 361, Statutes of 2012)
• SB 1500 – Animal Cruelty (Chapter 598, Statutes of 2012)

U.S. House of Representatives

2014 election

He was the Democratic candidate for the 33rd congressional district, formerly represented by Henry Waxman, who retired in 2014 after 40 years in Congress.^[25] Lieu placed second in the June primary, but defeated Republican Elan Carr in the general election. He is only the third person to represent this district since its creation in 1943 (it was the 19th from 1943 to 1975, the 24th from 1975 to 1993, the 29th from 1993 to 2003, the 30th from 2003 to 2013, and has been the 33rd since 2013).

Tenure

He is one of two Taiwanese American members of the 114th United States Congress, along with New York's Grace Meng.^[26]

Lieu was voted Democratic Freshman Class President of the House by his colleagues, succeeding Joaquín Castro. Lieu serves on two influential committees in Congress: the House Budget Committee and the House Oversight Committee.

Lieu voted against the Iran deal

Lieu received praise from the online privacy community when he introduced bi-partisan legislation that would prevent states from forcing companies to weaken encryption for law enforcement purposes.^[27]

On September 16, 2015, Mr. Lieu and Mr. Justin Amash (R) introduced a bill^[28] to reduce funding for the Drug Enforcement Administration's Cannabis Eradication Program,^[29] under which real estate and chattels can be seized after being proven to have been used for marijuana trafficking and abuse.^[30]

On July 22, it was announced that Lieu would speak at the 2016 Democratic National Convention, along with three other California House Democrats.

Committee assignments

• Committee on the Budget
• Committee on Oversight and Government Reform
  • Subcommittee on Information Technology
  • Subcommittee on National Security

Banning sexual orientation conversion therapy

Senator Lieu authored a bill^[31] in 2012 that bans the provision of sexual orientation change efforts (including conversion therapy) to minors. This bill passed both the State Assembly and Senate with substantial support, and was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown in 2012.^[32] This made California the first U.S. state to have such a ban, and New Jersey, Oregon,^[33][34] and the District of Columbia have enacted bans on sexual orientation change efforts with minors.^[35] Lieu has introduced a bill for a federal ban, following statements by President Obama opposing the practice.^[36]

Proponents of the ban cited sources including several reports of the American Psychological Association that found that conversion therapy presented a serious health risk "including confusion, depression, guilt, helplessness, hopelessness, shame, social withdrawal, suicidality, substance abuse, stress, disappointment, self-blame, decreased self-esteem and authenticity to others, increased self-hatred, hostility and blame toward parents, feelings of anger and betrayal, loss of friends and potential romantic partners, problems in sexual and emotional intimacy, sexual dysfunction, high-risk sexual behaviors, a feeling of being dehumanized and untrue to self, a loss of faith, and a sense of having wasted time and resources." ^[37]

Criticism of U.S. support for Saudi Arabia

Lieu has been publicly raising concerns over U.S. support for Saudi Arabian-led intervention in Yemen. In March 2016, he sent a letter to Secretary of State John Kerry and Secretary of Defense Ash Carter. Lieu wrote in the letter that the "apparent indiscriminate airstrikes on civilian targets in Yemen seem to suggest that either the coalition is grossly negligent in its targeting or is intentionally targeting innocent civilians. ... Some of these strikes look like war crimes to me, and I want to get answers as to why the U.S. appears to be assisting in the execution of war crimes in Yemen."^[38]

Personal

Lieu and his wife Betty (a former California Deputy Attorney General) reside in Torrance with their two sons, Brennan and Austin.^[39] In April 2013, Lieu and his family were the victims of swatting, in which a fraudster called 9-1-1 and fabricated that Lieu had killed his wife and children. Lieu has worked on legislation to increase penalties for swatting, and he believes the swatting of his family was an act of retaliation.^[40][41]

See also

• History of the Chinese Americans in Los Angeles

References

External links

• United States Congress. "Ted Lieu (id: L000582)". Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. 
• Official U.S. House site
• Ted Lieu campaign web site