Treasurer Bill Lockyer

Bill Lockyer was elected on November 7, 2006 as California’s 32nd State Treasurer. The State Treasurer’s Office (STO) plays a prominent role in helping California meet the challenges of building the future for a growing and increasingly diverse population. The STO has many tools to help provide residents what they need to create a stronger California – good-paying jobs, superior schools, improved transportation, quality health care, more affordable housing and a cleaner environment. Lockyer is committed to putting those tools to maximum use.

Lockyer’s top priority is vigilant stewardship of taxpayers’ money.

• During the economic meltdown of 2008, the STO’s management of billions of tax dollars that flowed through the State Pooled Money Investment Account (PMIA) ensured the PMIA: did not lose one dollar of principal on any investment; and suffered no losses from the failures or financial struggles of AIG, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac.
• Lockyer is a leading voice in the call to adopt meaningful, long-term budget reforms that get California back on a solid fiscal foundation, end chronic budget deficits, strengthen the State’s credit rating and bolster its credibility with taxpayers. In 2007, his office published the well-received “Looking Beyond the Horizon: Investment Planning for the 21st Century.” In the report, Lockyer advocated a longer-term budget planning and prioritizing process to ensure California can afford both the public services and capital investments it needs for the future.
• To increase accountability and transparency, Lockyer has proposed the State establish independent citizen oversight of bond-funded public works projects.
• Lockyer has led a national effort to reform the way credit rating agencies grade tax-backed bonds issued by states and local governments. The agencies discriminate against taxpayers by holding governmental issuers to a higher standard than corporations. The result is government bonds get lower ratings than they deserve. That hits taxpayers in their pocketbooks, because the lower ratings force them to shell out hundreds of millions of dollars in unjustifiably high interest rates.
• Lockyer in 2007 launched an unprecedented campaign to increase the purchase of California bonds by individual, or retail, investors. The cornerstone is a first-of-its-kind web site, BuyCaliforniaBonds.com, to connect investors with brokers. The campaign also features high-quality radio and print media ads. The program has received national attention and has been copied by other states. And it has succeeded. In 2008, for the first time, retail investors bought the majority of California bonds and notes. The increased retail demand has helped contain taxpayers’ debt service costs.

As Treasurer, Lockyer has continued his commitment to environmental protection. He sponsored “green bond” legislation to make government buildings more energy efficient and reduce their contribution to climate change. He sponsored another measure that makes it cheaper for schools and other governmental entities to install renewable energy generation at their facilities. He revived the California Alternative Energy and Advanced Transportation Financing Authority, which provides low-cost financing for renewable energy and alternative fuels projects. Taken together, these actions help spur California’s green economy, create the good-paying jobs of the future and fight global warming.

As Treasurer, Lockyer has drawn on leadership, management and policymaking skills developed over a public service career that has spanned more than three decades.

From 1999-2006, Lockyer served as California Attorney General and fashioned one of the most impressive records of accomplishment in the office’s history. In his eight years, he helped revolutionize crime fighting in California by creating and maintaining the nation’s most effective and sophisticated DNA forensic crime laboratory. He also cracked down on Medi-Cal fraud, securing hundreds of millions of dollars in court-ordered restitution and penalties. He established the Megan’s Law website to locate and identify registered sex offenders. And he recovered billions of dollars for defrauded energy ratepayers, consumers and taxpayers.

Prior to his election as Attorney General in 1998, Lockyer served 25 years in the California Legislature, culminating his Capitol career with a stint as Senate President pro Tempore. In that leadership position, Lockyer crafted agreements to balance the state budget, and reform government programs to make them run more efficiently and effectively for taxpayers.

A graduate of the University of California, Berkeley, Lockyer earned his law degree from McGeorge School of Law in Sacramento while serving in the State Senate. He also received a teaching credential from California State University, Hayward. He is married to Nadia Maria Lockyer and has a daughter, Lisa, and a son, Diego.

Above taken from the bio on his official State website (as of 6/28/2010)