House, California , District #32

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Bio

First elected to Congress in 2000, Congresswoman Hilda L. Solis is serving her third term in the U.S. House of Representatives.  She represents the 32^nd Congressional District of California, which encompasses the San Gabriel Valley and parts of East Los Angeles. 

Congresswoman Solis serves on the powerful House Energy and Commerce Committee becoming the first Latina to serve on this committee.  She is the Ranking Member of the Environment and Hazardous Materials Subcommittee and is part of the Energy and Air Quality Subcommittee.  Solis is also Democratic Chair of the Congressional Caucus on Women's Issues, Chairwoman of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus' Task Force on Health and a Regional Whip for Southern California.  Her priorities include protecting the environment, improving the quality of health care and fighting for the rights of working families. 

Congresswoman Solis' hard work and passion to fight for environmental justice is nationally recognized.  In August 2000, she was the first woman awarded the John F. Kennedy Profiles in Courage Award for her pioneering work on environmental justice issues in California.  Her environmental justice legislation was the first in the nation to become law. 

Congresswoman Solis was first elected to public office in 1985 as a member of the Rio Hondo Community College Board of Trustees.  She served in the California State Assembly from 1992 to 1994, and in 1994 she made history by becoming the first Latina ever elected to the State Senate.  As the chairwoman of the powerful Senate Industrial Relations Committee she worked with labor groups and led the battle to increase the minimum wage in California from $4.25 to $5.75 an hour in 1996.

Solis continued to advance environmental justice when she was elected to Congress and in 2003, her San Gabriel River Watershed Study Act was signed into law (Public Law No. 108-042).  This bill authorizes the Secretary of the Interior to conduct a special resources study of the San Gabriel River to look at how the federal government can improve the area's recreational and environmental opportunities.  Solis' commitment to social justice also prompted her to introduce a bill that would ease citizenship requirements for immigrants serving in the U.S. military and reservists, as well as provide immigration benefits to family members.  The immigration provisions from Solis' bill were included in a defense authorization bill signed into law in December 2003.

As Chair of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus Health Task Force, she has traveled across the country educating policy makers, advocacy and community leaders about the health needs of the Latino community.  Solis has also been a long time advocate for women's rights.  She has been an outspoken leader in raising awareness and helping to end the murders of almost 400 women in the border town of Ciudad Juarez, Mexico.

Congresswoman Solis graduated from California State Polytechnic University, Pomona in 1979, and earned a Masters degree in Public Administration from the University of Southern California in 1981. She worked in the Carter White House Office of Hispanic Affairs and was later appointed as a management analyst with the Office of Management and Budget in the Civil Rights Division.