As the son of a Bay Area public school teacher and a University of California professor, my values have guided me to public service, fighting for working families and protecting our environment. In the nearly twenty years I’ve lived in Berkeley, I’ve fought for tenants’ rights to safe and affordable housing, and campaigned to protect open space and clean up our air.
In my fourth term on East Bay Municipal Utility District Board, I’ve worked tirelessly so our community could become resilient to drought through increased conservation programs. I’ve fought hard to provide a safety net for low-income households so the most vulnerable can afford water and I took on big banks when they tried to turn off the water on families during the foreclosure crisis.
As a statewide public health advocate, I worked to pass new standards for clean energy, cleaning up trucks and buses, requirements for essential health benefits, and a ban on e-cigarette sales to kids. I fight every day for workers impacted by discrimination, wage theft, unsafe workplaces, and health insurance denials as a workers’ rights attorney. And as a proud member of the LGBT community, I have worked to address health disparities in the LGBT community.
Most recently, I led negotiations resulting in the Berkeley City Council raising the minimum wage to $15 per hour in 2018 and extending earned sick leave protections to working families. I represented Sierra Club in the U.N. climate negotiations, culminating in the landmark Paris Agreement. I’ve been working hard to stop Alta Bates Hospital from closing, which is why Mayor Jesse Arreguin asked me to serve as his Health Commissioner to help lead this difficult fight.
— Andy Katz