A lot of politicians say the right things, but Assemblymember Damon Connolly gets it done. Damon is a proven progressive leader who has worked to make life better in Northern California for decades. Below are his positions on many of the critical issues facing our region.

Wildfire Prevention

There’s arguably no concern that represents a more existential threat to Northern California than wildfire risk. As climate change continues to make us more vulnerable, we’ve all come to dread “wildfire season,” knowing how many of our communities it puts at risk.

That’s why Damon co-authored the historic California Climate Bond or Proposition 4, which invests $1.5 billion in wildfire and forest resilience. Now that an overwhelming majority of California voters have approved the bond, Damon is working to ensure that our region gets its fair share of resources to hire more firefighters, help residents harden their homes, manage our forests and vegetation, use new technology to detect fires, and implement science-based approaches to make all of our communities safer. 

He’s also the author of legislation, AB 1, to strengthen home fire insurance incentives for home hardening and successfully passed AB 2968 into law, which ensures that schools in “high” or “very high” fire hazard severity zones have wildfire evacuation plans in their comprehensive school safety plans. 

As a County Supervisor, Damon Connolly worked closely with Marin County Fire and Marin County Parks and Open Space to develop effective wildfire prevention and preparedness strategies, including budget support for more fire crews. In 2020, Damon helped lead the campaign to pass Measure C, establishing the Marin Wildfire Prevention Authority. This program significantly improves the county’s wildfire response, including more investment in vegetation management, wildfire detection, evacuation programs, and public fire safety education. Damon is committed to seeing similar improvements across the North Coast.

Damon will always prioritize the flexible resources needed to mitigate wildfire risk, better prevent future wildfires, protect homes, create evacuation routes, and prepare our community members for emergencies.

Climate Change and Environmental Protection

Damon Connolly has been a fearless and effective environmental champion throughout his entire 20-year career in public service. He has always understood that the urgency of the climate crisis requires bold and unwavering leadership. With the ever present threat of wildfires, sea-level rise, and extreme weather, this work has never been more important. As a State Assemblymember, Damon has been instrumental in prioritizing the needs of Northern California communities and achieving real results through the successful passage of the historic California Climate Bond or Proposition 4, and several pieces of legislation, including:

AB 1132: Joint authored with Assemblymember Laura Friedman, this bill extended the limit on fees that local jurisdictions can charge on residential solar, which were set to expire, to the first of January 2034.

AB 1864: Children attending public schools and daycares in California are supposed to be protected by a regulation that restricts the most drift-prone agricultural pesticide applications during the school day, but this regulation is often unenforceable. AB 1864 improves the regulation and extends these protections to students, teachers, and staff in private schools.

AB 2897: Expands the definition of a community land trust in state law to include non-residential purposes, so that a community land trust can effectively adapt to the needs of its community and serve as a garden, nonprofit office space, small business retail, or provide other vital community services. AB 2897 is sponsored by the California Community Land Trust Network.

AB 2968: Ensures that schools in “high” or “very high” fire hazard severity zones have wildfire evacuation plans in their comprehensive school safety plans. This bill was the winner of Assemblymember Connolly’s “There Ought to be a Law” contest!

This year, Damon was appointed Chair of the Assembly Committee on Environmental Safety and Toxic Materials, where he will lead the Assembly’s policy agenda on combating hazardous materials, improving water quality, and protecting our environment from dangerous pesticides and other pollutants. As a member of the Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 4 on Climate Crisis, Resources, Energy and Transportation, Damon will also help craft the spending plan for the Climate Bond, ensuring Northern California receives its fair share of funding for projects addressing wildfire and forest resiliency, home hardening, drought, sea-level rise, flooding, sustainable farming, parks, and clean energy.

Earlier in his career, Damon authored San Rafael’s Climate Change Action Plan when he was Vice Mayor (the first adopted in Marin County), updated Marin County’s Climate Change Action Plan, co-founded Marin Clean Energy (MCE), and helped start Sonoma Clean Power. In 2020, Damon co-authored a policy to oppose and deter offshore oil drilling by requiring direct voter approval for any facility that assists with it. Under his leadership, Marin County also joined San Mateo and Santa Cruz Counties, with Richmond and Imperial Beach cities, in suing the major oil companies for promoting petroleum consumption as environmentally responsible while knowing that it causes harm. 

With a long track record of proven results, one thing is clear: Damon isn’t afraid to stand up to the big polluters or special interests to fight for the future of our climate and environment.

Health Care and Reproductive Rights

Damon Connolly believes health care is a human right, and he believes in a California where all of us are able to receive the affordable and accessible health care we deserve.

He supports CalCare, expanding Medicaid eligibility to all lower income California residents, additional subsidies to make healthcare more affordable on the Covered California state exchange, price transparency in health care billing, and prescription drug price controls.

Damon is especially focused on helping rural communities address the health care personnel shortages that cause delays in treatment and long commutes for basic treatment. We need to save our hospitals and urgent care facilities and attract the doctors, nurses, and caregivers that keep communities safe and healthy. Damon is an advocate for growing our state’s health care workforce and providing more personalized care to patients and residents in caregiving facilities.

Damon also believes that mental health care is a central component of comprehensive health care, and he supports policies to make mental health care more affordable, more accessible, and destigmatized.

With Roe v. Wade overturned by a reactionary Supreme Court, California rose to the occasion. Damon Connolly was the first candidate in the 12th Assembly District to champion the establishment of an abortion sanctuary in the state to protect patients and people who offer or facilitate abortion services.

Damon proudly supported Proposition 1, which amended the State Constitution to affirm that reproductive health decisions are protected as a constitutional right.

In the Assembly, Damon has been an advocate for more resources to make abortions as affordable as possible, for people from any state, country, or territory, and supports policies that give the state the broadest possible latitude to protect people in our state seeking reproductive health services. He is proud to have earned a 100% scorecard from Planned Parenthood.

Reproductive Rights

With Roe v. Wade overturned by a reactionary Supreme Court, California rose to the occasion. Damon Connolly was the first candidate in the 12th Assembly District to champion the establishment of an abortion sanctuary in the state to protect patients and people who offer or facilitate abortion services.

Damon proudly supported Proposition 1, which amended the State Constitution to affirm that reproductive health decisions are protected as a constitutional right.

In the Assembly, Damon has been an advocate for more resources to make abortions as affordable as possible, for people from any state, country, or territory, and supports policies that give the state the broadest possible latitude to protect people in our state seeking reproductive health services. He is proud to have earned a 100% scorecard from Planned Parenthood.

Equity

Promoting social justice and racial and gender equity have been a core tenet of Damon Connolly throughout his life and career as a public official. Meaningful change means doing away with policies and practices that are unjust or allow for complacency in the face of injustice. 

As a Marin County Supervisor, Damon placed equity front and center in his decision making. Every policy item before the county must include an equity impact analysis, and millions are being allocated every year to equity initiatives. 

As a State Assemblymember, Damon has promoted policies that result in equal pay for equal work, family-sustaining pay and benefit levels, strong enforcement of anti-discrimination and anti-harassment laws, and workforce training and retraining programs that expand opportunities for women and communities of all backgrounds, including pathways to senior management.

Housing

Damon Connolly understands that housing is one of the most important issues facing our state. Throughout his career, Damon has prioritized an expansion of affordable housing while protecting the rights of tenants and breaking down the barriers to home ownership. Notably, during the pandemic, Damon voted to prevent displacement through an eviction moratorium for tenants, which helped stem the pain until the state intervened with financial payments, preventing what could have been a huge rise in homelessness in our community.

In the State Assembly, he has worked to ensure that state housing requirements recognize the value of open space in Northern California and prioritize new homes, especially affordable, near our downtowns and major transit corridors. In this way, we get the best of both worlds: more vibrant, livable, and affordable downtown cores adjacent to the natural wonders that make our region such a wonderful place to live.

Homelessness

Throughout Northern California, far too many people are struggling to secure housing, and it’s led to a sharp rise in our unhoused population. An issue that is national in its scope is too often left to local governments to address, and the outcome isn’t satisfactory for anyone.

Throughout his tenure in the State Assembly, Damon Connolly has supported the state’s Homekey initiative that embraces a housing-first approach by offering grants to local governments to purchase and rehabilitate buildings, like hotels and vacant apartment buildings, to be converted into permanent supportive housing. Homekey is a great foundation that should be expanded upon. Damon has been working with cities and towns to collaboratively address encampments.

Additional resources and accountability is needed to address the full range of reasons people experience homelessness, including mental health and addiction support, family counseling, job training, recidivism intervention, and direct help for vulnerable youth.

Transportation

Damon Connolly has been a strong advocate for sustainable transportation solutions throughout Northern California. As a former member of the Transportation Authority of Marin and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission, he brings extensive experience to transportation policy issues.

In the State Assembly, Damon has supported increased funding for public transit, road safety improvements, and expanded bike and pedestrian infrastructure. He understands that transportation is not just about moving people from place to place, but also about reducing greenhouse gas emissions, improving air quality, and creating more livable communities.

Damon continues to advocate for transportation planning that connects housing to jobs, reduces congestion, and provides equitable access to mobility options for all Northern California residents.

Sustainable Agriculture

Northern California is home to some of the most pristine and historic agricultural land in California, and the North Bay’s and North Coast’s family farmers and vintners deserve a voice in Sacramento.

As a member of the Assembly Committee on Agriculture, Damon has worked to address the growing risk of droughts and wildfires and the existential threat they pose to our rural lands (see “Wildfire Prevention” for more on Damon’s work on this issue). In the State Assembly, Damon has fought for regional, state, and federal resources to improve water conservation, recycling, and reclamation throughout the state, making more water available for all. He has also advocated for resources to help farmers engaged in sustainable practices, including passing legislation to strengthen the state’s Healthy Soils Program, expanding “matching” dollars at farmers markets, supporting assistance to build farm resilience, and providing tools for socially disadvantaged farmers. Damon also helped secure $300 million in the Climate Bond for Climate Resilient Farms, Ranches and Working Lands.

Through his role on the Assembly Budget Committee, Damon was also instrumental in saving funding for the California Nutrition Incentive Program, which enables low-income individuals using nutrition benefits, such as CalFresh, to purchase locally grown, healthy California fresh fruits, vegetables, and nuts by providing incentives to shoppers at certified farmers’ markets and small businesses.

Economic Revitalization

We’ve made important strides toward recovery from all the economic externalities that came from emerging from the pandemic, and Damon Connolly is committed to our recovery. Rising costs have hurt too many Northern California families, and Damon is focused on making life better for all of us.

During record deficit years, Damon helped pass a balanced budget that preserved budget resilience by maintaining $22.2 billion in total reserves at the end of the 2024-25 fiscal year. Damon has a long track record of fiscal responsibility and has helped the state take several measures to manage revenue volatility, including setting aside a record amount of reserves, focusing surplus funding on shovel-ready projects and proven programs, instead of unsustainable long-term and ongoing obligations, and paying tens of billions of dollars toward the state’s long-term debt.

As a member of the Assembly Budget Committee, Damon also successfully protected the Small Business Technical Assistance Expansion Program, which helps provide consulting and training to small businesses and entrepreneurs. In the Legislature, Damon helped pass several bills with his colleagues to address the growing issue of organized retail theft, including:

AB 1778 (Irwin): Clarifies that acts of retail theft occurring across multiple jurisdictions can be charged in a single jurisdiction.

AB 1794 (McCarty): Allows counties to create a program for retailers to report details of shoplifting. Clarifies that distinct but related acts of theft motivated by the same intention, impulse, and plan can be aggregated to a single charge of grand theft if it exceeds $950.

AB 2943 (Zbur): Creates new crimes for professional retail thieves and gives law enforcement more tools to combat career thieves.

As a County Supervisor, Damon voted for an emergency relief program to help our small businesses, ultimately raising $1.2 million in grants countywide that were distributed to small businesses. The state can and must do more to incentivize repayment plans that help small businesses stay open.

Working with Supervisor Judy Arnold, Damon also established the Marin Economic Recovery Task Force, which is working in partnership with non-profit and business partners to develop the long-term strategy needed to save small businesses and cut through the red tape to access resources.

There are no easy answers, but we know that inaction is not an option. Damon is committed to making Northern California a more affordable place to live, attracting new employers, and saving the small businesses that are the heart and soul of the communities we love.

Open Space

To live in Northern California is to love the outdoors. That’s why throughout his public service career, Damon Connolly has always prioritized the preservation of open space and improvements to our trails, bike paths, and waterways.

Open space that Damon has helped preserve includes McInnis Marsh, a 180-acre historic wetland, and Silveira Ranch, a 340-acre scenic mix of grasslands, valley oaks, and tideland habitats.

In the State Assembly, Damon has continued this important work, expanding the range of public lands available to the public and wildlife for generations to come.