[Congressional Record Volume 167, Number 102 (Friday, June 11, 2021)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E630-E631]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




           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

[[Page E631]]

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.

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