52 Facts About Patricia Bates

Patricia "Pat" Carmody Bates was born on December 15,1939 and is an American Republican politician who served in the California State Senate, representing the 36th Senate district, which encompasses parts of Orange and San Diego counties.

Patricia Bates served as the Senate's minority leader from 2017 to 2019.

Patricia Bates previously served as a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors from 2007 to 2014, and the California State Assembly from 1998 to 2004.

Patricia Bates served as the first mayor of Laguna Niguel, California following its incorporation in 1989, and continued to serve on the city council until 1998.

Patricia Bates grew up in Rosemead, California, in the San Gabriel Valley, before her family moved to Long Beach when she was 12 years old.

Patricia Bates graduated from Wilson High School and then attended Occidental College, majoring in psychology and studying abroad at the University of Madrid in her junior year.

Patricia Bates was employed by the department for ten years, and became a deputy district director.

Patricia Bates lived in Long Beach before moving in 1978 to what was then unincorporated Laguna Niguel in south Orange County.

Patricia Bates was a school volunteer and a then a member of the Laguna Niguel Community Council, serving as its president from 1986 to 1987.

Patricia Bates was elected to the five-member, quasi-governmental Community Services District in 1986.

Patricia Bates remained on the city council for a decade.

Patricia Bates was a board member of Saddleback Community College and the South Coast Medical Center Foundation.

Patricia Bates was the council's representative to the El Toro Reuse Planning Authority, which opposed proposals to build an airport at the former Marine Corps Air Station El Toro; she was vice chair of the Authority.

Patricia Bates was member of the California State Assembly from 1998 to 2004, representing the 73rd Assembly district.

Patricia Bates won the 1998 Republican Assembly primary election with an endorsement by the outgoing Republican incumbent, Bill Morrow.

Patricia Bates was a member of the Orange County Board of Supervisors from 2007 to 2014.

Patricia Bates represented the 5th district, a largely white, wealthy, and conservative part of the county, stretching from Aliso Viejo to San Clemente.

Patricia Bates was elected to the Board in 2006 in a contentious campaign in which she faced three other candidates, the most significant being former Laguna Niguel mayor Cathryn DeYoung.

DeYoung's campaign spent $2.7 million ; Patricia Bates campaign spent almost $700,000.

In 2012, Patricia Bates voted against a proposal by Board chairman John Moorlach to place a referendum on the ballot that would change supervisor term limits from a maximum of two consecutive four-year terms to a lifetime maximum of three four-year terms.

In 2014, Patricia Bates was elected to the California State Senate.

Patricia Bates was elected from the 36th Senate district, which covers an area in south Orange County and north San Diego County with more than 1 million residents.

In 2017, Patricia Bates was elected by her fellow Senate Republicans as the minority leader of the California State Senate.

Patricia Bates was the second woman in the history of the state to lead a party caucus, the other being her predecessor Jean Fuller.

Patricia Bates led a small caucus; Republicans made up less than one-third of the state Senate, which had a Democratic supermajority.

Patricia Bates was reelected to her seat in the November 2018 elections, despite a Democratic wave in Orange County and statewide Republican losses.

Patricia Bates was not eligible to seek reelection to the Senate in 2022 due to term limits.

Patricia Bates authored legislation to reclassify several offenses as "violent" felonies to close what she believes are loopholes in state law, siding with prosecutors arguing that the state's list of "violent felony" could allow some dangerous inmates to walk free.

Patricia Bates was honored by Crime Victims United of California as one of its legislators of the year.

Patricia Bates authored bills to address opioid abuse and to improve regulation of facilities that shelter and treat drug addicts.

Patricia Bates authored SB 1109, which was signed by Governor Jerry Brown in 2018; the legislation increased continuing medical education requirements for opioid prescribers to curb opioid abuse and addiction, required warning labels on opioid prescription bottles, and required youth sports organizations and schools to distribute a document warning student-athletes and their parents or guardians of the risks associated with opioids.

Patricia Bates sponsored Brandon's Law, a measure that prohibits the operators of drug rehabilitation facilities from making misrepresentations or false claims about the services they offer or their location.

Patricia Bates sponsored consumer-protection legislation to require substance abuse rehabilitation facilities that are licensed or certified by the State of California to clearly disclose their license and certification numbers and the expiration dates on their web sites and other advertising material.

Patricia Bates authored legislation to require criminal background checks on rehab facility owners and operators, and called on the federal government to give local governments tools to help regulate such facilities.

Patricia Bates credited Southern California News Group's "Rehab Riviera" coverage for raising greater awareness of the issue.

Patricia Bates opposed California's SB 1, which increased the gas and car tax increase to fund road and bridge repairs.

Patricia Bates opposed the California High-Speed Rail project, calling it "a boondoggle" and urging that the money set aside for high-speed rail be used to fix roads instead.

Patricia Bates has supported city plans that serve the needs of electric vehicles.

Patricia Bates endorsed California's Proposition 51 of 2016, which authorized $9 billion in bonds to fund improvement and construction of school facilities for K-12 schools and community colleges.

Patricia Bates urged Governor Jerry Brown to expedite the issuance of the bonds.

In 2015, Patricia Bates introduced legislation to allow Saddleback Memorial Medical Center's San Clemente campus to operate as a stand-alone emergency room in an effort to keep the ER open.

Patricia Bates is a strong supporter of the 1978 California Proposition 13, which restricts property-tax increases in California.

Patricia Bates opposed the California Internet Consumer Protection and Net Neutrality Act of 2018, a California net neutrality law, sponsored by Senator Scott Wiener, that barred internet service providers from blocking or restricting bandwidth services or websites and barring "monopolistic" practices among ISPs.

Patricia Bates said that net neutrality should be left to the federal government and that the law could deter telecommunications companies from investing in infrastructure in California.

Patricia Bates voted against SB 63, the New Parent Leave Act, in 2017.

Patricia Bates cited the costs to business as her reason for opposing the legislation.

Patricia Bates sponsored legislation that streamlined the process for licensed professional clinical counselors, marriage and family therapists, and clinical social workers in other states to become licensed in California.

Patricia Bates endorsed Marco Rubio in the 2016 Republican presidential primaries, serving as California co-chair of Rubio's campaign.

Patricia Bates said in early 2016 she would support Donald Trump if he won the Republican nomination.

Patricia Bates sponsored a bill requiring the California Department of Education to report on the use of existing lockdown drills in K-12 public schools.

Patricia Bates co-authored legislation, signed by Governor Jerry Brown in 2018, allowing the creation of an Orange County trust to help house homeless people.

Patricia Bates married John Patricia Bates, an architect, in 1963; they have two children.