Photo of a Residential Neighborhood with Houses and Rooftops in the Inglewood area of Los Angeles, California, USA, shot from above.

Laura Richardson

Democrat, State Senate

District 35, Inglewood

Time in office:

Assembly: 2006-2007
Senate: 2024-present

Official Website

News coverage of Laura Richardson

Bio

Laura Richardson served in the Assembly in 2006 for a year before being elected to Congress in a special election in 2007 to fill the seat of her former boss, U.S. Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald, who died suddenly. Richardson served in Congress until 2013. During her tenure, she was reprimanded and fined by the House Ethics Committee for misusing her staff members to work on her 2010 campaign. Prior to her Assembly run, she worked as a legislative staff member at local, state and federal levels, and served on the Long Beach City Council. She lives in San Pedro.

Leader Badges

Bill Activity

Of 27 bills:

12 Passed

4 Failed

11 Pending

For this session year, this legislator initiated 27 bills: 12 passed, 4 failed, and 11 are currently pending.

Alignment Meter

See all-time percentage of this legislator’s alignment with any organization based on total votes.

xx%votes: xx

Financials

This feature tracks three sources of money intended to help a candidate win election: 1-Money given directly to a candidate’s committee, 2-Money given to an Independent Expenditure Committee, 3-Money given to a political party. (NOTE: Senators are elected every four years. Twenty of the 40 Senators are on the ballot in even-numbered years, so Senators may do little or no fundraising in the first two-year session of their Senate term).

Election

This display shows money given directly to the incumbent’s campaign committee (NOTE: The industry categories for donors come from Open Secrets, a nonpartisan research organization for campaign finance. Some contributions are “uncoded,” meaning they have not been assigned to an industry sector. As a result, the total for each sector is also an estimate).

Agriculture

Candidate Contributions

Communications & Electronics

Construction

Energy & Natural Resources

Finance, Insurance & Real Estate

General Business

Government Agencies/Education/Other

Health

Ideology/Single Issue

Labor

Lawyers & Lobbyists

Party

Transportation

Uncoded

Unitemized Contributions

Candidate Donations

Individuals, corporations, organizations and committees are limited to a maximum donation to candidates of $5,500 for the primary and for the general elections.

Total

$839.2K

77.0% higher than the average legislators

Independent Expenditures

Money from Independent Expenditure Committees (IEC) for advertising or grassroots activity targeting a candidates run for office is unlimited, but it cannot be spent in coordination with the candidate or the candidate's campaign.

Total

$874.4K

866.0% higher than the average legislators

Grand Total for Elections

$1.7M

204.0% higher than the average legislators

This is a total of the money targeting this legislator's campaign(s) including direct donations to the candidate, money spent by Independent Expenditure Committees and money from political parties.

Influence

There are three categories of donations to legislators after they are elected that encourage a working relationship between the donor and the legislator. The three categories are: 1-Gifts, 2-Travel, 3-Behests.

Giver	Value	Date	Description
California Chamber of Commerce	$80.66	Nov 12, 2024	Lunch
California Black Women's Collective Institute	$38.51	Dec 30, 2024	Dinner, Journal & Tiara

Gifts

Legislators are not allowed to accept gifts of more than $10 per month from registered lobbyists. Gifts from any other single source are limited to $590 in a calendar year.

Gift Received Rating

#104/120

This legislator is ranked 104th highest for the amount of personal gifts received.

Policy

Bills Authored by Laura Richardson

SB 1337

Transportation fuels: interagency working group.

In Progress

Transportation fuels: interagency working group.

SB 1312

Cemetery and Funeral Bureau: advisory committee.

In Progress

Cemetery and Funeral Bureau: advisory committee.

SB 1322

Government-to-Government Consultation Act: state-tribal consultation.

In Progress

Government-to-Government Consultation Act: state-tribal consultation.

SB 1305

Wildlife: bears.

In Progress

Wildlife: bears.

View All Bills

Committees

Most of the policy work in the state Capitol is done in “Standing” committees. Legislators also work on budget subcommittees. There are also “Special” and “Select” committees with a more narrow topic focus. And there are “Joint” committees with members from the Senate and Assembly.

Standing