California State AssemblyCandidate for District 29

Mark Stone represents the people of California’s 29th Assembly District, which includes portions of Santa Cruz, Santa Clara, and Monterey Counties. Elected in 2012, Mark has emerged as a leader on environmental protection and child welfare issues.

Mark serves as Chair of the Assembly Judiciary Committee, which reviews legislation on a broad range of issues, including family law, product and tort liability and immunity, immigration, commercial contracts, court and jury procedures, civil practice and procedure. In his first term, Mark served as Chair of the Assembly Committee on Human Services, where he led policy decisions on child welfare, foster care, developmental disability services, temporary cash assistance, and CalFresh food benefits.

Mark has written laws to transform group homes for foster youth into places where youth can access short-term, intensive treatment, make it easier for foster youth to graduate from high school and access special benefits, assist low-income pregnant women better prepare for the arrival of their babies, and help people released from prison reintegrate into the community. He also held several key oversight hearings to discuss ways to address childhood poverty and improve information sharing in the foster care system.

As an environmental champion, Mark has fought to curb illegal coastal development, reduce plastic pollution, and clean up drinking water supplies. In his capacity as Chair of the Select Committee on Coastal Protection, he has held hearings investigating threats to the Pacific Ocean, oil spill prevention efforts, plastic garbage effects on the coastal environment, and offshore fracking.

Before his service in the Assembly, Mark represented the Central Coast in various capacities. He was elected twice to the Santa Cruz County Board of Supervisors, where he worked on health care, education, youth issues and the environment. While there, he held leadership roles on the Santa Cruz County Regional Transportation Commission, and the First 5 Commission. Additionally, Mark led an overhaul of the Santa Cruz County child welfare system. He was an outspoken supporter of the Queer Youth Task Force and fought to halt discrimination of LGBT youth. As an environmental defender at the local level, he spearheaded the successful effort to ban single-use plastic bags. In addition to his duties as a County Supervisor, Mark served the entire Central Coast as Vice Chair of the California Coastal Commission.

Prior to his work at the County, Mark was a trustee of the Scotts Valley Unified School District, eventually being elected President. Before entering public service, Mark worked as an attorney in the tech industry and as a professor at the Naval Postgraduate School. Mark lives in Scotts Valley with his wife Kathy. They have two adult children. Stone is an avid open water swimmer.

For over twenty years, I have fought to improve our quality of life in California as a School Board Member, County Supervisor, Coastal Commissioner and now Assemblymember. I was sent to Sacramento to advocate for the rights of the people in the 29th Assembly District and across the State of California. There is still so much to accomplish, and I am excited to continue to be the voice for this District in the State Assembly.

During my service in the Assembly, I have prioritized protecting the most vulnerable Californians. I authored comprehensive reforms to help foster youth grow up in supportive homes. I jointly wrote the End of Life Option Act to help people facing terminal illness. I led the movement to create a state Earned Income Tax Credit to lift the state’s poorest working families out of poverty. I helped improve access to justice in the court system, and I wrote a variety of laws to improve public safety, and to help people released from prison successfully integrate into their communities, and decrease their chances of reoffending.

As a dedicated environmentalist, I have remained steadfast against strong opposition to critical environmental protections. I advocated for landmark climate-change laws, and laws to provide clean drinking water, increase water recycling, and improve groundwater management. I was a key voice for California’s plastic bag law to reduce plastic pollution.

I look forward to continuing to be a voice we need in Sacramento, fighting for the issues that we care about, and working towards making the future brighter for California.