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Headshot of Lola Smallwood Cuevas

Lola Smallwood-Cuevas

Democrat, State Senate
District 28, Los Angeles
Time in office:
  • Senate: 2022-present

News coverage of Lola Smallwood-Cuevas

Bio

Lola Smallwood-Cuevas, 55, is a labor and civil rights activist and former newspaper journalist. She has a degree from Cal State Hayward and worked for the Oakland Tribune, Long Beach Press-Telegram and the Chicago Tribune. She organized for SEIU Local 1877, and went on to the UCLA Labor Center, where she founded the Center for the Advancement of Racial Equity at Work. She cofounded the Los Angeles Black Worker Center. In the Senate, she’s advocated for several labor-related bills. She’s married and has two children.

Ideology

Left

Moderate

Right

Bill Activity

0

Of 2 bills:
 Passed
 Failed
2 Pending

For this session year, this legislator initiated 2 bills: None passed, None failed, and 2 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).

No last session data found.

No last session data found.


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
League of California Cities$309Aug 17, 2022Lodging, meals, and beverages
Planned Parenthood Los Angeles$301.69Oct 12, 2022Food & beverage
Community Coalition$250Oct 26, 2022Food & beverage
California Democratic Party$51.18Dec 4, 2022Food & beverage
California Teachers Association$34.9Jul 24, 2022Food & beverage

Personal 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
#66/120

This legislator is ranked 66th highest for the amount of personal gifts received.

Policy

Bills Authored by Lola Smallwood-Cuevas

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.

Hearings

Featured Comments

Below are links to the video and transcript of recent, substantive comments by this legislator in committee hearings or floor sessions.

Preview image for SB 5721MIN
Aug 31, 2024

SB 572

Surplus state real property: community land trusts.

Preview image for SB 13402MIN
Aug 30, 2024

SB 1340

Discrimination.

Preview image for SB 10892MIN
Aug 29, 2024

SB 1089

Food and prescription access: grocery and pharmacy closures.

Preview image for SB 10672MIN
Aug 29, 2024

SB 1067

Healing arts: expedited licensure process.

Preview image for SB 11372MIN
Aug 28, 2024

SB 1137

Discrimination claims: combination of characteristics.

Preview image for SB 5728MIN
Aug 28, 2024

SB 572

Surplus state real property: community land trusts.

Preview image for SB 108917MIN
Jul 2, 2024

SB 1089

Food and prescription access: grocery and pharmacy closures.

Preview image for SB 11375MIN
Jul 2, 2024

SB 1137

Discrimination claims: combination of characteristics.

Preview image for SB 134029MIN
Jul 2, 2024

SB 1340

Discrimination.

Preview image for SB 144630MIN
Jul 2, 2024

SB 1446

Grocery retail store and retail drug establishment employees: self-service checkout and consequential workplace technology.

Preview image for SB 144633MIN
Jun 19, 2024

SB 1446

Grocery retail store and retail drug establishment employees: self-service checkout and consequential workplace technology.

Preview image for SB 134014MIN
Jun 19, 2024

SB 1340

Discrimination.

View All Hearings

District

View of map with yellow overlay for Senate District 28 boundaries.
District 28 is a Safe Democratic District
Democratic Party candidate has a very high likelihood of winning in an election

Previous Election:

Cheryl C. Turner
40.1%
Lola Smallwood-Cuevas
59.9%
WON

Party Registration

Census Data

Median age0102030

Median age