Phillip Chen

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. By requiring that State Parks enter in these discussions, we can preserve and expand open space where Californians are able to explore and come away from Chino Hills State Park feeling refreshed after a scenic trail.[16]