FIONA MA was elected to represent the 12th Assembly District from November 2006 to November 2012. She was the 112th woman to ever be elected to the California Legislature and the first Asian woman to ever serve as Speaker pro Tempore since 1850. Assemblywoman Ma first became interested in politics as a small business owner and a Certified Public Accountant advocating on behalf of other small businesses. She was an elected delegate to the White House Conference on Small Business under President Bill Clinton, which produced a report to Congress on the 60 top policy recommendations to help small businesses grow and prosper in the 21st century.
She formally entered the field of politics in 1995 serving as the district representative for State Senator John Burton. She was elected to the San Francisco Board of Supervisors in 2002, where she served for four years. During her tenure on the Board of Supervisors, she authored the landmark Local Business Enterprise ordinance on behalf of women and minority business owners and passed legislation to tackle human trafficking. Building on her work combating toxic chemicals in San Francisco, Assemblywoman Ma authored groundbreaking legislation (AB 1108) to ban toxic chemicals, known as phthalates, in baby products statewide, which was the first such law in the nation.
As Chair of the Assembly Select Committee on Domestic Violence, she worked on legislation to protect victims of domestic violence. She authored groundbreaking legislation to protect consumers, help California’s working families pay the bills, prevent the spread of Hepatitis B, increase access to quality healthcare, and provide equal rights for all Californians. She was a strong advocate for better neighborhoods, authoring laws to combat graffiti, recycling theft and disabled placard abuse. As a joint author of Proposition 1-A, she was the legislature’s leading advocate to bring high-speed trains to California. Additionally, Assemblywoman Ma took a lead in promoting trade and fostering relationships between California and Asia.
Assemblywoman Ma received her B.S. from the Rochester Institute of Technology (NY), her M.S. in Taxation from Golden Gate University (SF), and an MBA from Pepperdine University. She has been licensed in California as a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) since 1992.
