1. Arthur A Torres was born on September 24,1946 and is an American former politician who served as a member of the California State Legislature.
19 Facts About Art Torres
1. 2.
Art Torres is the vice chair of the Independent Citizens Oversight Committee, the governing board of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.
3.
Art Torres is a colon cancer survivor and serves on the board as a patient advocate.
4.
Art Torres is a member of the Board of Regents of the University of California.
5.
Art Torres was the first Latino in the California Democratic Party to have been nominated for statewide office when he won the Democratic primary for insurance commissioner in 1994.
6.
Art Torres earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of California, Santa Cruz and a Juris Doctor from UC Davis School of Law.
7.
Art Torres was a John F Kennedy teaching fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School.
8.
In 1972, Torres was defeated in his first election for a seat in the California State Assembly by 615 votes.
9.
Two years later, Art Torres won a seat in the California State Assembly, where he served for the next eight years.
10.
Art Torres served in the State Senate for another twelve years, from 1982 to 1994.
11.
Art Torres served as chairman of the Insurance Committee, Assembly Health Committee, Senate Joint Committee on Science and Technology, the Joint Committee on Refugees, the Senate Committee on the Entertainment Industry, and he was the founding chairman of the Senate Toxics Committee.
12.
Art Torres co-authored legislation that created the Museum of Tolerance in Los Angeles, and the California Clean Water Act.
13.
In 1994, Art Torres was nominated for insurance commissioner, making him the first Latino Democrat nominated for a statewide office in California history.
14.
Art Torres served as a German Marshall Fund Fellow and delivered a paper on Western European immigration issues.
15.
Art Torres served as president of the Kaitz Foundation, dedicated to bringing more people of color into management within the cable television industry through the Kaitz Fellowship program.
16.
Art Torres has served on the board of the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, the San Francisco Ballet, "Heal the Bay" in Santa Monica, and the advisory board of The Princeton Review.
17.
Art Torres was confirmed unanimously by the Board of Supervisors.
18.
Art Torres was formerly married to Yolonda Nava, a television newscaster and talk show hostess.
19.
In March 2006, Art Torres had surgery to remove cancer from his colon.