Assembly Member Joan Buchanan

Assemblymember Joan Buchanan, elected to the State Assembly in November 2008, represents the 15th Assembly District, which includes portions of Alameda, Contra Costa, Sacramento and San Joaquin counties and the communities of Danville, Elk Grove, Galt, Livermore, Pleasanton, San Ramon, Stockton and Walnut Creek.

Joan serves as chair of the budget subcommittee on Information, Technology and Transportation and the Select Committee on Innovation and the Bay Area Economy. She also serves on the Budget, Transportation, Utilities and Commerce, and Accountability and Administrative Review committees and represents the Assembly on the Special Education Commission and the Early Learning Quality Improvement System Advisory Committee.

Since elected to the Assembly, Joan has focused on working with local leaders to solve problems and has pursued a legislative agenda focused on fiscal accountability and creating jobs. She is the author of legislation that would promote the creation of green technology jobs through research and development credits and other incentives. She has co-authored legislation to implement a performance based budgeting process and to eliminate pension spiking. To alleviate shortages in the health care industry, Joan is a principal co-author with Speaker Perez of legislation to establish an accelerated nursing and allied health profession programs within the California Community Colleges.

Before being elected to the State Assembly, Joan served on the San Ramon Valley School Board for nearly 20 years. Under her leadership, the district took a new direction, both expanding and renovating facilities and improving core academic programs. Over 94% of the district’s graduating seniors attend college or university. Despite being severely under funded, SRVUSD has received state and national recognition for student achievement, ranking among the top 5% of all school districts in California.

Joan honed her financial and analytical skills at Delta Dental becoming one of the fastest rising women in the company and Director of Commercial Operations before the age of 30. She left the private sector to raise her five children and in the process became one of the San Ramon Valley’s most effective community activists.

Her entrepreneurial approach resulted in a number of community firsts. As Vice-President of the San Ramon Valley School Age Child Care Alliance she helped bring school-age childcare to San Ramon Valley elementary schools; she successfully chaired the 1994 “No on Vouchers” campaign to protect public school funds; and as PTA President at Alamo Elementary, Joan created a coalition that raised money to build a much needed outdoor theater.

Joan is a 27 year resident of Alamo, CA and a native Californian. She holds a B.A. in Economics from the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Above taken from the bio on her official Assembly website (as of 6/24/2010)