Phillip Chen

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Phillip Chen
Phillip Chen official headshot.jpg
Member of the California State Assembly
from the 55th district
Assumed office
December 5, 2016
Preceded byLing Ling Chang
Personal details
Born (1978-04-22) April 22, 1978 (age 45)
El Monte, California
NationalityAmerican
Political partyRepublican
ResidenceYorba Linda, California
OccupationPolitician
Chinese name
Traditional Chinese陳立德
Simplified Chinese陈立德
Hanyu PinyinChén Lì Dé

Phillip Chen (born April 22, 1978) is an American politician and member of the California State Assembly. He is a Republican representing the 55th district, encompassing small parts of Los Angeles, Orange, and San Bernardino Counties. The district includes the cities of Diamond Bar, Rowland Heights, Brea, Yorba Linda, and Chino Hills. Prior to being elected to the state assembly, he was a school board trustee for the Walnut Valley Unified School District.[1]

Early life

Chen graduated from Servite High School in Anaheim.

Education

In 2002, Chen earned his B.A. in Communications from California State University, Fullerton. In 2005, Chen earned a Master of Public Administration degree from USC. In 2014, Chen earned a Doctoral of Educational Psychology from the USC.[2]

Career

Chen is the owner of a property management company.[2]

In 2013, Chen became an Adjunct Faculty Professor at the USC Sol Price School of Public Policy.[2][3]

From 1999 to 2003, Chen was a member of USAWKF National Wushu Taolu Team[4] and represented the United States at the World Wushu Championships and the Pan American Wushu Championships.[5] He also became an official judge for the USAWKF. Chen also started the first Wushu Chinese martial art course for credit at California State University Fullerton.

Chen is a former Los Angeles County Reserve Sheriff’s Deputy.[3] Chen was appointed by former Governor Pete Wilson to the Governor’s Office of Criminal Justice Planning, overseeing California’s juvenile justice programs. He was a member of the State Advisory Group, Juvenile Justice Legislative Committee and Juvenile Justice Native American Committee.[6]

Chen was appointed to serve as a Board Member for the California Physical Therapy Board and worked as a health deputy to former Los Angeles County Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.[7]

Chen also served as adjunct faculty at California State Fullerton from 2007-2008[3] and at California State University, Los Angeles in 2016.[8]

Political career

Chen was elected in November 2011 to the Walnut Valley Unified School Board and re-elected to a second term in 2015.[9]

In 2014, Chen ran for the California State Assembly. He narrowly lost the Republican nomination to Diamond Bar City Councilwoman Ling Ling Chang, who went on to easily win the general election.[10]

Chen was elected to the California State Assembly in November 2016, when Chang ran unsuccessfully for the California State Senate. He was appointed to serve in leadership as Deputy Whip to the Assembly Republican Caucus. His committee membership consists of the Banking and Finance Committee (where he serves as Vice-Chair), the Business and Professions Committee, the Insurance Committee, the Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy Committee, and the Utilities and Energy Committee.[11]

In 2018, in the wake of California's growing mental health and homeless epidemic, Chen authored Assembly Bill 2156, which would clarify and fine tune the definition of “gravely disabled” to ensure that county investigators evaluate the mental capacity of an individual to provide for their own food, clothing, shelter, and medical care.[12]

That same year, Chen introduced AB 3005 which aimed to protect the sensitive personal information of children in foster care which can be misused to commit various crimes, like fraud and identity theft.[13]

Due to the increased number of crimes in 2019, Chen introduced AB 517 to create an Orange County Property Crime Task Force to prevent crimes as well as identify and arrest criminals who participate in property crimes.[14]

To address the growing number of homeless encampments found beneath our state highways, Chen introduced AB 1908, the Homeless Encampment and Litter Program (HELP), putting more accountability on Caltrans in coordinating access to housing and supportive services for those who need it most.[15]

In an effort to preserve open space in Southern California, Chen introduced AB 2021 which would require the California Department of Parks and Recreation to seek opportunities for acquiring land to expand open space by entering discussions to grow the size of Chino Hills State Park, a landmark that sits at the junction of four of California's most populous counties - Orange, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, and Riverside.[16]

In 2021, Chen was able to secure funding via a state budget allocation for a pedestrian bridge that is critical to safeguarding university students, faculty and staff and community members at Cal State University of Fullerton. The Titan Gateway Pedestrian Bridge, which will allow the campus community to cross over Nutwood Avenue, connecting the main campus to CSUF's College Park building, approximately 22,000 to 26,000 vehicles traverse this intersection every week. The crossing is particularly dangerous for the more than 1,700 students with visual, hearing or mobility disabilities served by Disability Support Services at Cal State Fullerton, any of whom need access to College Park for classes and campus resources. Chen said “the million-dollar allocation from the State General fund is specifically for the Titan Gateway. As a CSUF alumnus, Chen added that although CSUF is not in his district, many students are constituents in his district, and it was great to return and continue to invest in the students.” [17][18]

  • Assemblyman Phillip Chen presents check to Cal State Fullerton.

    Assemblyman Phillip Chen presents check to Cal State Fullerton.

2016 California State Assembly

See also: 2016 California State Assembly election
California's 55th State Assembly district election, 2016
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Democratic Gregg D. Fritchle 32,439 35.9
Republican Phillip Chen 19,684 21.8
Republican Mike Spence 18,737 20.7
Republican Ray Marquez 10,881 12.0
Republican Steven M. Tye 8,600 9.5
Total votes 90,341 100.0
General election
Republican Phillip Chen 98,960 57.7
Democratic Gregg D. Fritchle 72,471 42.3
Total votes 171,431 100.0
Republican hold

2018 California State Assembly

See also: 2018 California State Assembly election
California's 55th State Assembly district election, 2018
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Phillip Chen (incumbent) 42,664 47.2
Democratic Gregg D. Fritchle 20,441 22.6
Democratic Melissa Fazli 14,016 15.5
Republican James G. Gerbus 9,731 10.8
Republican Scott Lebda 3,571 3.9
Total votes 90,423 100.0
General election
Republican Phillip Chen (incumbent) 87,928 54.9
Democratic Gregg D. Fritchle 72,256 45.1
Total votes 160,184 100.0
Republican hold

2020

2020 California State Assembly election
Primary election
Party Candidate Votes %
Republican Phillip Chen (incumbent) 64,785 56.2%
Democratic Andrew E. Rodriguez 50,458 43.8%
Total votes 115,243 100.0%
General election
Republican Phillip Chen (incumbent) 125,212 54.9%
Democratic Andrew E. Rodriguez 102,683 45.1%
Total votes 227,895 100.0%
Republican hold

Personal life

Chen and his mother are small business owners who own and operate a property management company. Chen's brother, David, is a deputy district attorney with the Santa Barbara County District Attorney's office.[19]

References

  1. ^ "Chen for Assembly". The Orange County Register. September 29, 2016.
  2. ^ a b c "Assembly Member Phillip Chen's Biography". Vote Smart. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
  3. ^ a b c "LinkedIn Profile".
  4. ^ "2000 Pan Am Games in Brazil".
  5. ^ "2000 11 02".
  6. ^ "Governor Pete Wilson endorses Phillip Chen for State Assembly".
  7. ^ "2015 Bio information for Walnut Valley Unified School District" (PDF). wvusd.k12.can.us.
  8. ^ "CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY, LOS ANGELES Department of POLITICAL SCIENCE FALL 2016 PART TIME Faculty Office Hours" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 2017-04-06.
  9. ^ "Walnut Valley Unified School District post on November 2012 election".
  10. ^ "Search Results for "phillip chen"".
  11. ^ "Rendon Announces Assembly Committee Assignments".
  12. ^ "Bill Text - AB-2156 Mental health services: gravely disabled". leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Retrieved 2018-04-17.
  13. ^ "Bill Text -". leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
  14. ^ "Bill Text -". leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
  15. ^ "Bill Text -". leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
  16. ^ "Bill Text -". leginfo.legislature.ca.gov. Retrieved 2020-06-29.
  17. ^ "CSUF celebrates receiving $2 million in funding".
  18. ^ "CSUF honors support for pedestrian bridge, arboretum funding".
  19. ^ "State Bar of CA :: David P. Chen".

External links

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