Phillip Chen

Chen was elected in November 2011 to the Walnut Valley Unified School Board and re-elected to a second term in 2015.[9]

In 2014, Chen ran for the California State Assembly. He narrowly lost the Republican nomination to Diamond Bar City Councilwoman Ling Ling Chang, who went on to easily win the general election.[10]

Chen was elected to the California State Assembly in November 2016, when Chang ran unsuccessfully for the California State Senate. He was appointed to serve in leadership as Deputy Whip to the Assembly Republican Caucus. His committee membership consists of the Banking and Finance Committee (where he serves as Vice-Chair), the Business and Professions Committee, the Insurance Committee, the Jobs, Economic Development and the Economy Committee, and the Utilities and Energy Committee.[11]

In 2018, in the wake of California's growing mental health and homeless epidemic, Chen authored Assembly Bill 2156, which would clarify and fine tune the definition of “gravely disabled” to ensure that county investigators evaluate the mental capacity of an individual to provide for their own food, clothing, shelter, and medical care.[12]

That same year, Chen introduced AB 3005 which aimed to protect the sensitive personal information of children in foster care which can be misused to commit various crimes, like fraud and identity theft.[13]

Due to the increased number of crimes in 2019, Chen introduced AB 517 to create an Orange County Property Crime Task Force to prevent crimes as well as identify and arrest criminals who participate in property crimes.[14]

To address the growing number of homeless encampments found beneath our state highways, Chen introduced AB 1908, the Homeless Encampment and Litter Program (HELP), putting more accountability on Caltrans in coordinating access to housing and supportive services for those who need it most.[15]

In an effort to preserve open space in Southern California, Chen introduced AB 2021 which would require the California Department of Parks and Recreation to seek opportunities for acquiring land to expand open space by entering discussions to grow the size of Chino Hills State Park, a landmark that sits at the junction of four of California's most populous counties - Orange, San Bernardino, Los Angeles, and Riverside.[16]

In 2021, Chen was able to secure funding via a state budget allocation for a pedestrian bridge that is critical to safeguarding university students, faculty and staff and community members at Cal State University of Fullerton. The Titan Gateway Pedestrian Bridge, which will allow the campus community to cross over Nutwood Avenue, connecting the main campus to CSUF's College Park building, approximately 22,000 to 26,000 vehicles traverse this intersection every week. The crossing is particularly dangerous for the more than 1,700 students with visual, hearing or mobility disabilities served by Disability Support Services at Cal State Fullerton, any of whom need access to College Park for classes and campus resources. Chen said “the million-dollar allocation from the State General fund is specifically for the Titan Gateway. As a CSUF alumnus, Chen added that although CSUF is not in his district, many students are constituents in his district, and it was great to return and continue to invest in the students.” [17][18]

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  Assemblyman Phillip Chen presents check to Cal State Fullerton.