Deborah Ortiz

Deborah V. Ortiz is an American politician from Sacramento, California. A Democrat, she served in both chambers of the California State Legislature. A then-member of Sacramento City Council, Ortiz was elected to the California State Assembly in 1996 and served a single two-year term representing the 9th Assembly district. In 1998, she was elected to the California State Senate from the 6th Senate district with 55% of the vote and won re-election in 2002 with 70.8% of the vote. Term limits prevented her from seeking a third Senate term in 2006; she instead ran unsuccessfully for Secretary of State. Currently she is serving as Vice President of Policy at the California Primary Care Association.

Ortiz was first elected to public office in a special election in March 1993 when she was elected to the Sacramento City Council. In a field of six candidates, Ortiz received 36% of the vote and was elected to the seat of Joe Serna who had been elected Mayor of Sacramento in November 1992. Prior to that she had served as Chief of Staff to then State Assemblyman Richard Polanco and as a leader at the Latino Coalition for Fair Sacramento Redistricting.

Ortiz had also served on the Sacramento County Planning Commission, the Oak Park Project Area Committee and the UC Davis Medical Center Community Advisory Board.

Ortiz was known as a major advocate for Oak Park, the neighborhood where she lived and was raised. Oak Park had a long history as one of the most blighted and crime ridden neighborhoods in the City of Sacramento. Ortiz authored ordinances to hold absentee landlords accountable by imposing penalties on neglected vacant properties and she established a cash reward program for reporting of illegal dumping in neighborhoods. Ortiz also authored an ordinance that required gun dealers to register with the police department and precluded them from locating near schools and day care centers. In 1995, Ortiz managed to have US Bank open the first new bank in Oak Park in thirty years.

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