Curren Price was first elected to the California State Assembly in 2006 to represent the 51st District, and was re-elected by an overwhelming margin to a second term in 2008. After serving one full term in the California State Assembly, Mr. Price was elected in May 2009 to represent the 26th District in the State Senate, which includes a portion of Los Angeles, Culver City, Beverlywood, Hollywood, Ladera Heights, Larchmont, Leimert Park, View Park, and Vermont Hills.
Senator Price has earned a reputation as a thoughtful, principled, and effective leader. He is a strong advocate for investing in our public schools, empowering parents and challenging all students to meet higher academic standards. He seeks to give all Californians, regardless of income or socioeconomic status, the chance to go to college and develop the skills needed to succeed in today’s highly competitive workplace.
As a leading champion for working families, Senator Price has fought to protect the rights of California workers. He has led efforts to support homecare workers, hotel workers, security guards and other workers that are vital to California’s economy, in order to organize for better wages and benefits.
Senator Price is a state leader who works across party lines to find common ground, who speaks his conscience, and who gets things done for his constituents. His passion to serve his community led him to work towards expanding and improving job training opportunities, particularly for our youth, and investing in our families and their futures.
As a strong and consistent advocate for small business, Senator Price has continued to prove that he is among California’s most influential voices advocating for creating new opportunities for small business enterprises. He believes in policies that spark economic growth, encourage innovation, open the doors of opportunity for all, creates jobs and stimulate our state’s economy. He authored legislation that would increase opportunities for small businesses to compete for state contracts and would offer incentives for creating new jobs.
Senator Price has worked to expand the quality and affordability of health care for all Californians and has authored legislation that would allow parents to add dependent children up to age 27 to their employer-based health plans. He also joined colleagues to pass legislation that would have led to universal health care, and authored legislation that was signed into law requiring hospitals to provide public notification prior to closing its doors or eliminating vital health services.
After receiving his Juris Doctor degree in law from Santa Clara University, Senator Price moved to Washington D.C., where he was active in the telecommunications industry. As an advocate for minority enterprises, he was a frequent speaker at conferences sponsored by the National Telecommunications and Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Commerce.
Senator Price returned to California in 1988, serving as a deputy to two members of the Los Angeles City Council. Following his tenure as a deputy, he was the Southern California Coordinator for a statewide association that provided training to assist community-based organizations in developing commercial real estate projects.
Prior to serving in the California Legislature, Senator Price was an elected member of the Inglewood City Council, representing the city’s District 1. As a council member, he was chair of the City Council Community Economic Development Committee.
Throughout his tenure as an elected official, Senator Price has been awarded numerous honors in recognition of his legislation and advocacy on behalf of students, working families, and small businesses. He has authored legislation to increase funding for K-12 education, community colleges and the CSU and UC systems. The University of California Student Association twice named Senator Price “Legislator of the Year” first in 2007 and again in 2009. Also, for the past four years, Mr. Price has served as the Reading Ambassador for the Stephanie Starks HOPE Foundation, which encourages reading and the distribution of books in schools throughout Southern California.
Born and raised in Los Angeles, California, Senator Price attended Morningside High School in Inglewood, where he became the first African American to be elected as the school’s student body president. Senator Price received a scholarship to Stanford University where he graduated and received his Bachelor of Arts degree in political science. He later studied law at Santa Clara University, where he was elected president of the Black Students Association. He graduated in 1976 with a Juris Doctor degree in law and has life time teaching credentials in Adult Education and the California Community Colleges.