36 Facts About Shannon Grove

Shannon Lee Grove is an American politician, who represents California's 12th State Senatorial district, encompassing the southern Central Valley and parts of the High Desert.

Shannon Grove is the chief executive officer of an employment agency she started in 1993 with her sister-in-law.

Shannon Grove was born in Kern County, California, and grew up there.

Shannon Grove was elected in the Tea Party wave of 2010, succeeding Jean Fuller, who was termed out and opted to run for the State Senate.

Shannon Grove was re-elected twice to the California State Assembly, and was sworn into her third term in 2014.

When Fuller could not run for the State Senate in 2018 due to term limits, Shannon Grove ran for the open seat.

Shannon Grove was favored in the race against Republican Gregory Tatum, a church pastor, and Democrat Ruth Musser-Lopez, an archaeologist and former Needles council member, and easily won the election.

In January 2019, Shannon Grove was elected by her Senate Republican colleagues to serve as their leader.

Republican dissatisfaction with Shannon Grove's leadership increased after the caucus lost two seats in the November 2020 election, leaving them with just 9 members, even as Republicans made gains in the concurrent elections for the US House of Representatives and the California State Assembly.

In September 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic in California, Shannon Grove addressed a large prayer gathering in front of the California State Capitol, where few of the thousands present wore masks or socially distanced.

Shannon Grove appeared on the stage and addressed the meeting without wearing a mask and while under a state-ordered quarantine.

Shannon Grove was one of nine Republican state senators who had been in close contact with state Senator Brian Jones, who had tested positive for COVID-19.

Shannon Grove introduced a bill in 2015 that would mandate that California public colleges and universities allow student organizations to maintain belief-based requirements for its members and leaders.

Shannon Grove has introduced anti-abortion legislation into the Assembly, which did not pass.

Shannon Grove opposed legislation passed by the Assembly in 2015 in response to misinformation at crisis pregnancy centers.

In June 2016, Shannon Grove attracted attention and criticism after linking abortion legislation and the wrath of God to the drought in California.

Shannon Grove responded to criticism by saying that she had been misconstrued.

In 2016, Shannon Grove produced a widely viewed video, posted on Facebook, that blamed Californian farmers' lack of water on policies under the Endangered Species Act, which protects the endangered delta smelt.

Shannon Grove is a staunch critic of California's high-speed passenger rail project, and has accused the California High-Speed Rail Authority of obscuring cost overruns.

Shannon Grove has called the project a "train to nowhere" and believes that it is too costly and disruptive to farmland.

Shannon Grove has called for reducing regulation of the fossil fuel industry.

Shannon Grove has opposed efforts to combat climate change, calling such measures unaffordable.

In 2012, Shannon Grove invited Lord Monckton, a well-known climate change denier, to speak to the Legislature, although only five of 120 state lawmakers attended the talk.

Shannon Grove opposes regulation of hydraulic fracturing, arguing that the technology is safe and that environmental critics of the practice are wrong.

In 2021, after state regulators denied several permits for new fracking permits in Kern County, Shannon Grove urged the county board of supervisors to block solar energy projects in the county.

Shannon Grove opposes prevailing wage legislation for workers on public-works projects, and has introduced legislation to roll-back prevailing-wage requirements; this legislation was defeated in committee on a party-line vote.

Shannon Grove sponsored legislation to amend California's Private Attorneys General Act of 2004, which allows workers to sue employers who fail to properly pay workers or commit other labor law violations, arguing that PAGA suits had grown out of control,.

Shannon Grove has sought to reduce the state's minimum business tax.

Shannon Grove has opposed providing financial assistance to poor families struggling to afford diapers for infant children.

Shannon Grove has advocated for the closure of two state developmental centers, which care for Californians with developmental disabilities.

Shannon Grove became interested in the issue after learning about "abuse, neglect and lack of supervision" leading to 13 deaths at the centers, reported in an investigation by California Watch in 2013.

Shannon Grove has introduced legislation to close the centers and shifting the developmentally disabled residents to nonprofit community-based care, which Shannon Grove argues will be cheaper and have stronger oversight than institutional settings.

Shannon Grove's legislation was opposed by family members of center residents, and by center employees.

In 2011, as a first-term assemblywoman, Shannon Grove advocated changing the California State Legislature from a full-time to a part-time body.

Shannon Grove sought to place an initiative on the California ballot to reduce its annual legislative session from nine months to three months and cut lawmakers' annual salaries from $95,000 to $18,000.

Shannon Grove pitched the idea in a four-minute video produced by a Tea Party group in 2012.