[Congressional Record Volume 150, Number 57 (Thursday, April 29, 2004)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E708-E709]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




            HONORING CALIFORNIA STATE SENATOR BYRON D. SHER

                                 ______
                                 

                           HON. ANNA G. ESHOO

                             of california

                    in the house of representatives

                        Thursday, April 29, 2004

  Ms. ESHOO. Mr. Speaker, on behalf of the members representing Silicon 
Valley, including

[[Page E709]]

Representatives Farr, Honda, Lantos, Lofgren and Stark, I rise to honor 
California State Senator Byron Sher, one of the most highly respected 
legislators in California, who, after representing San Mateo, Santa 
Clara and Santa Cruz Counties in the California State Legislature for 
nearly a quarter century, will retire. Senator Sher will be honored on 
Friday, April 30, 2004 by the Santa Clara County Democratic Party for 
his career of extraordinary public service.

  Byron Sher graduated from Washington University, St. Louis, and 
earned a law degree from Harvard Law School in 1952. He held academic 
teaching positions in law at Southern Methodist University, the 
University of Southern California, Harvard Law School, Stanford Law 
School, and was a Fulbright Research Scholar in New Zealand. His 
elective public service spans from serving on the Palo Alto City 
Council with two terms as Mayor, to service on the San Francisco Bay 
Conservation and Development Commission, the Committee on Environmental 
Quality for the National League of Cities, and the League of California 
Cities.
  In November, 1980, Byron Sher was elected to the California State 
Assembly where he served with distinction as the acknowledged leader of 
environmental policy for over fifteen years. In 1996, he was elected to 
the California State Senate in a special election to represent the 11th 
Senate District which currently spans three counties and stretches from 
San Carlos in the north to the City of Santa Cruz in the South, and 
which borders on both San Francisco and Monterey Bays.
  During his tenure in the California State Legislature, Byron Sher 
expanded his reputation as the foremost expert on environmental issues. 
He is the first Chairman of the Senate Environmental Quality Committee, 
as well as the author of landmark laws to protect our environment and 
serve as legislative models for the rest of the 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 he has 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 in our country.
  Mr. Speaker, we're proud to call Byron Sher our friend and our 
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. We ask our 
colleagues to join us 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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