About Karen Bass
Karen Bass is the 43rd Mayor of Los Angeles and the first woman and second African American to be elected as the city's chief executive. With an agenda focused on bringing urgency, accountability, and a new direction to Los Angeles, she will start her term with a focus on housing people immediately and increasing safety and opportunity in every part of Los Angeles.
A daughter of our city, Mayor Bass was raised with her three brothers in the Venice/Fairfax neighborhood and is a proud graduate of Hamilton High School. After serving as a front-line healthcare provider as a nurse and as a Physician Assistant, Mayor Bass founded the Community Coalition to organize the predominantly Black and Latino residents of South L.A. against substance abuse, poverty and crime, and to pioneer strategies to address the root causes behind the challenges faced by underserved neighborhoods.
She then went on to represent Los Angeles in the State Assembly and was elected by her peers to serve as Speaker, making her the first African American woman to ever lead a state legislative body in the history of the United States. Her time in leadership intersected with the Great Recession, and she was honored with the John F. Kennedy Profile in Courage Award for reaching across party lines and making tough decisions to keep the state from bankruptcy while protecting vital services.
While representing Los Angeles and Culver City in Congress, Mayor Bass helped protect small businesses during the pandemic, created policy to drive local jobs from federal infrastructure funding, and led the passage of what the Los Angeles Times called “the most significant child welfare policy reform in decades.”
Mayor Bass earned her bachelor's degree in health sciences from CSU Dominguez Hills before graduating from the USC Keck School of Medicine Physician Assistant Program and earning her masters degree in social work from USC.
Mayor Bass’s oldest daughter Emilia planned to follow in her mother’s footsteps working for social change. The Mayor-elect continues to be inspired by Emilia and her son-in-law Michael’s passion for life. She has three other children, Scythia, Omar and Yvette, and two grandchildren, Michael and Henry, who live in the Los Angeles area.
Board Reports
Board reports acted upon most recently by committees to which Karen Bass belongs
2023-0287 - STATE AND FEDERAL REPORT Received
5/18/2023 - RECEIVED AND FILED
Ara Najarian Budgeting California State Transportation Agency Center for Transportation Excellence East Los Angeles Federal Transit Administration GoPass Gold Line Eastside Transit Corridor Phase 2 Grant Aid Housing Hubs Informational Report Link Union Station Metro Rail C Line Metro Rail E Line Metro Rail K Line Metro Rail L Line Motion / Motion Response Pasadena Program Project Rail transit Transit Pass Transit operators United States Department Of Transportation West Santa Ana Branch Transit Corridor2023-0219 - ON-CALL COMMUNICATIONS SUPPORT SERVICES BENCH Approved
AUTHORIZE the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) to execute Modification No. 1 to Task Order No. 1 with Lee Andrews Group under the Communications Support Services Bench Contract No. PS85397007 to ...
2023-0296 - EXPRESSLANES PAY-AS-YOU-GO PILOT EVALUATION Active
CONSIDER: A. RECEIVING AND FILING the ExpressLanes Pay-As-You-Go Pilot evaluation methodology and findings; B. AUTHORIZING the Pay-As-You-Go Program permanent, eliminate the $25 penalty for ...
5/18/2023 - FORWARDED WITHOUT RECOMMENDATION
Audit Budget Budgeting Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19) Customer service Evaluation and assessment Express lanes General purpose lanes I-10 I-110 Impact fees Metro Equity Platform Metro ExpressLanes Motion / Motion Response Off peak periods Payment Peak periods Policy Program Strategic planning Tolls Travel time Volume2022-0868 - TRANSIT LAW ENFORCEMENT SERVICES Approved
CONSIDER: A. AUTHORIZING the Chief Executive Officer to negotiate and execute contract modifications to extend the current multi-agency transit law enforcement contracts annually for up to ...
3/23/2023 - APPROVED AS AMENDED
Audit Bias-Free Policing Policy Budget Budgeting City of Los Angeles Contracts Customer service Housing Law enforcement Law enforcement personnel Long Beach Long Beach Police Department Los Angeles Police Department Los Angeles Sheriffs Department Police Policy Procurement Public Safety Advisory Committee Public Safety Analytics Policy Public policy Request For Proposal Ridership Safety Safety and security Safety programs Security Surveys System safety Transit System Transit authorities Uniform Crime Reporting Visibility2023-0089 - MOBILITY WALLET PILOT UPDATES Approved
APPROVE: A. the finding that Mobility Wallets are exempt from federal income tax because the payments promote the general welfare of low-income eligible participants and do not represent ...
3/23/2023 - APPROVED
Bike and ride Budgeting Central Los Angeles subregion City of Los Angeles Demand responsive transportation Grant Aid Low-Income Fare is Easy (LIFE) Memorandum Of Understanding Metro Bike Share Metro Vision 2028 Plan Partnerships Payment Project Promotion Rail transit Ridesharing San Fernando Valley subregion Shared mobility South Bay Cities subregion South Los Angeles Sustainable transportation Testing Transit buses Twenty-eight by '28 Initiative Vehicle sharing Westside Cities subregion Zoning