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Karen Bass, PA-C
Karen Bass, PA-C

    Karen Bass Bass worked for nearly a decade as a physician assistant and was as a clinical instructor at the University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine's physician assistant program. She made history in 2004 when the California Assembly elected its 67th Speaker, making her the first African American woman in the country to serve in this role.

    Since taking office, Ms. Bass has been delivering change and delivering results to her constituents in Los Angeles and the people of California by jumpstarting infrastructure projects to create new jobs in the state. Ms. Bass has also championed efforts to provide quality healthcare to Californians and expand opportunities for California's youth.

    Speaker Emeritus Bass has authored legislation that expands Healthy Families Insurance coverage to prevent children from going without health care. Her legislation also includes bills to reform schools and improve conditions and services for youth. She also continues to be an advocate for foster children and she has carried several bills to support programs and funding to ensure foster youth have better chances for success including legislation that uses federal funds to extend support to California's foster youth to the age of 21 as well as legislation that helps California draw down a share of federal family connection grants. These grants have a proven record of placing foster kids in the healthy, stable care of relatives and decreasing the number of youth in California's foster care system from 120,000 to 65,000 in the past decade.

    And although she's been in public office for five years, she has served the public for decades. Among other projects, in 1990, she founded Community Coalition, a community-based social justice organization in South Los Angeles, where she was the executive director for 14 years.

    Schedule29 Mar 2024