34 Facts About Mike Gatto

Michael Anthony Gatto was born on October 19,1974 and is an American politician, who served in the California State Assembly from 2010 to 2016.

The author of several pieces of notable legislation, Mike Gatto is perhaps best known for authoring and passing the first California Rainy Day Fund, a constitutional amendment to force the state to put away money during fiscally positive times, which California Governor Jerry Brown subsequently adopted as his own.

In October 2019, Mike Gatto authored a statewide ballot initiative to comprehensively address the state's homelessness crisis.

Mike Gatto grew up in the Franklin Hills and Silver Lake neighborhoods of Los Angeles.

Mike Gatto worked as a top aide to Congressman Brad Sherman for five years, during and after law school.

Mike Gatto won three elections in seven weeks in 2010, and was sworn into the Assembly in mid-June.

In 2010, Mike Gatto introduced legislation to reduce municipal pension costs.

Mike Gatto's bill sought to cap the exposure of well-managed cities when less frugal municipalities offered top officials excessive salaries.

In October 2010, Mike Gatto authored ACA 4, the Rainy Day Fund for the State of California.

Mike Gatto authored AB 1900 and 2196, which created the modern renewable fuels industry in California.

Mike Gatto authored the California Homemade Food Act to allow small startup businesses to produce certain food products without the regulations for large commercial operators applying to them.

In September 2012, Mike Gatto introduced a bill requiring the California DMV to establish the California Legacy License Plate Program, bringing back replicas of black license plates issued in California in the 1960s.

Mike Gatto authored legislation which would give small businesses a safe harbor for correcting deficiencies in Proposition 65 warnings without being subject to financial penalties and lawsuits, the first substantive Prop.

Mike Gatto authored legislation to make better use of carpool lanes during off-peak hours.

In mid-2013, Mike Gatto pushed for an audit of the Child Protective Services departments in the state of California, based on the concern that they were not spotting child abuse fast enough.

In 2014, Mike Gatto introduced a landmark federal constitutional amendment to force Congress to address campaign-finance reform.

Mike Gatto introduced a number of measures to address hit-and-run crashes.

In 2014, Mike Gatto authored and got signed into law significant legislation to keep film and television production jobs in California.

Mike Gatto was the lead Los Angeles negotiator for the California Water Bond of 2014, securing just under a billion dollars for the Los Angeles region to clean up polluted groundwater reservoirs, which were still full despite the California drought, so that the region did not need to import so much water from elsewhere.

In 2015, Mike Gatto introduced a variety of groundbreaking consumer-privacy legislation.

Mike Gatto introduced a bill to restrict the ability of government to store indefinitely the blood and DNA of newborn children and to crack down on government selling the blood to for-profit researchers for experimentation without the knowledge of parents.

Mike Gatto teamed up with Kerri Kasem, daughter of Casey Kasem, to author a bill allowing adult children of seniors to obtain visitation rights for their loved ones.

Also in 2015, Mike Gatto authored a major probate reform bill that allows homeowners to pass their property to loved ones without hiring a lawyer, paying to create a trust, or facing the cost and bureaucracy of probate.

In December 2015, Mike Gatto was named Chairman of the Utilities and Commerce Committee, and immediately announced an investigation into the Aliso Canyon gas leak.

Mike Gatto has continued to propose legislation after his tenure concluded.

In October 2019, Mike Gatto authored a statewide ballot initiative to address California's homelessness crisis.

Mike Gatto had the best attendance record in the legislature, and one of the longest streaks of not missing a vote for any legislator nationwide.

In 2013, Gatto earned the Robert F Kennedy Leadership Award from the San Fernando Valley Young Democrats.

In 2012, a data analysis conducted by the Sacramento Bee newspaper on voting records concluded that Mike Gatto was the second-most independent democratic legislator in the California State Assembly.

Mike Gatto has been published in several publications on the topic of monetary and fiscal policy, and their effect on income inequality and wealth disparity.

Mike Gatto was an early commenter on how the government's COVID-19 policies violated constitutional rights.

In 2024, Mike Gatto served as spokesman for Proposition 36, which aims to halt fentanyl trafficking and serial retail theft, and increase the ability for judges to get people into rehab.

Mike Gatto is a frequent guest on national television news, talk, and analysis shows.

Mike Gatto is a cousin to astronaut Mario Runco Jr.