Richard Bloom

Bloom was born to a Jewish family[1] and raised in Altadena and West Los Angeles and attended Fairfax High School, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Loyola Law School. He holds a B.A. in Communication and Public Policy and a Juris Doctor degree.

First elected in 1999, Bloom served on the Santa Monica City Council for 13 years, serving as mayor three times and mayor pro tempore twice. Bloom also served as Chair of the Santa Monica Bay Restoration Commission.

Bloom defeated incumbent Assemblymember Betsy Butler in 2012.

Bloom serves on the following Assembly Committees: Transportation, Budget, Arts & Entertainment, Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials, and Higher Education. He also serves on Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 6 on Budget Process, Oversight and Program Evaluation and is the Chairman of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 3 on Resources and Transportation.

In 2013, Bloom authored the Bobcat Protection Act, which has since been signed into law, but did not result in protection of the Bobcat due to loopholes. Public pressure played a key role to influence the California Governor to direct his California Fish and Game Commission to ban trapping of Bobcat in California, even though killing the Bobcat in California National Parks and Califorania State Parks has been illegal since 1918.

On March 7, 2014, Bloom introduced legislation to ban live performances and captive breeding of orcas. The legislation, if passed into law, would affect SeaWorld San Diego's "Shamu" performances.[2][3]

On November 4, 2014, Bloom was re-elected to a second term with nearly 72% of the vote.

In the 2015 legislative session, Bloom introduced legislation to ban plastic microbeads in personal care products. The bill has been signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown.

In the 2016 legislative session, Bloom re-introduced legislation to ban captive orca shows. The bill passed both chambers of the legislature overwhelmingly.

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