[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 7 (Wednesday, January 28, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E76-E77]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           IN HONOR OF CALIFORNIA STATE SENATOR BYRON D. SHER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                      Wednesday, January 28, 2004

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, I rise to honor California State Senator 
Byron Sher, the most highly regarded environmental legislator in 
California, who will be retiring this year after representing San Mateo 
and Santa Clara Counties in the California State Legislature for nearly 
a quarter century. Senator Sher will be honored on Friday, January 30, 
2004 by the San Mateo County Democratic Party for his extraordinary 
public service.
  Senator Sher began his public service in 1965 when he was elected to 
the Palo Alto City Council where he served for nine years, including 
two terms as Mayor. He was a Commissioner of the San Francisco Bay 
Conservation and Development Commission from 1978 to 1980, and served 
on the Committee on Environmental Quality for the National League of 
Cities and the League of California Cities. His work on these bodies 
would serve him exceedingly well in years to come.
  Byron Sher was elected to the California State Assembly in November, 
1980, where he served with distinction as a leader on environmental 
policy for over fifteen years. He was then elected to the Senate in 
1996 in a special election to represent the 11th District, which is 
geographically and culturally diverse, spanning from Belmont to San 
Jose, and which includes major portions of the South San Francisco Bay 
and the San Mateo County Coast.
  Throughout Senator Sher's legislative career, he has been regarded as 
the premier legislator on environmental issues. He is not only the 
first Chairman of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee, he is 
also the author of countless benchmark laws that have led the State of 
California to enact some of the most significant 
environmental protection policies in our Nation. Among the laws he has 
authored are the California Clean Air Act, the Integrated Waste 
Management Act, and the Safe Drinking Water Act. He has strengthened 
the State's timber regulations with his Surface Mining and Reclamation 
Act and been at the forefront of computer recycling programs to ensure 
that the dangerous byproducts of the information age, such as mercury, 
don't contaminate our landfills and water supplies. Senator Sher also 
authored the Nation's first law to prevent toxic contamination of water 
supplies from leaking underground storage tanks. Virtually all his 
legislation is considered the gold standard for environmental 
conservation and protection laws throughout our country.

  Senator Sher is also considered one of the foremost experts on 
consumer protection and government ethics. He has consistently been 
ranked one of the State's top ten legislators for intelligence and 
integrity by the California Journal Magazine. Despite the many demands 
on his time, Senator Sher continues to serve as a member of the 
Steering Committee of the National Council on Competition and Electric 
Services, as a California Commissioner on the National Conference of 
Commissioners on Uniform State Laws, and as a member of the Wildlife 
Conservation Board.
  Byron Sher has also been an important part of the academic community. 
He was a Fulbright Research Scholar in New Zealand and held academic 
teaching positions in law at Southern Methodist University, the 
University of Southern California and Harvard Law School before coming 
to Stanford University. At Stanford, Senator Sher's passion for the 
rights of his fellow citizens could be seen in the coursework he taught 
as a professor of law: Consumer credit, consumer protection, as well as 
contract and commercial law. At Stanford he's been Chairman of the 
Human Relations Commission and the Faculty Senate, and was a member of 
the University Budget Priorities Advisory Commission.
  Mr. Speaker, I'm proud to call Byron Sher my friend and my colleague 
in public service. This quiet, humble, decent and brilliant man is a 
source of great pride to the Democratic Party, to our mutual 
constituents, to all Californians and to our entire Nation. I ask my 
colleagues to join me in honoring and thanking Senator Sher for his 
lifetime of extraordinary service to California and our country. 
Because of him and his distinguished service, we are unmistakably a 
stronger and a better Nation.
    

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