About Mark

Senator Mark DeSauliner represents the 7th Senate District which in 2012 will include parts of Contra Costa and Alameda Counties.  DeSaulnier has served at the local level on the Concord City Council, as Mayor of Concord and as a three term Contra Costa County Supervisor.  As Supervisor, he served on the California Air Resources Board, the Association of Bay Area Governments, the Bay Area Air Quality Management District, and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission. He was elected to the State Assembly in 2006 where he served one term and received the distinction of being the first freshman in history to chair the Assembly Transportation Committee.  DeSaulnier was elected to the California State Senate in 2008.

In the Senate, DeSaulnier Chairs the Transportation and Housing Committee and the Subcommittee No. 3 of Budget and Fiscal Review Committee pertaining to Health and Human Service.  In addition he sits on the Senate Committees on Budget;  Health;  Energy, Utilities & Communications;  Labor and Industrial Relations;  and, Governance & Finance as well as the Joint Legislative Budget Committee and the Joint Legislative Sunset Review Committee.

In his first term, he has taken a leadership role on a variety of key issues including government reform, labor, transportation, the environment, health care, local government, and public safety. In the Senate, DeSaulnier’s top legislative priorities include:  working to reform state governance; safe and efficient roads and highways; allowing companies to organize as more community-active corporate citizens; protecting public health; reducing Californians’ exposure to tobacco; protecting homeowners from foreclosure;  tightening up the parole system and oversight of sex offenders; making it easier for people to donate life-saving bone marrow and organs; and fighting abuse of prescription narcotics.

Locally, DeSaulnier has championed the Expansion of Highway 4, BART to eastern Contra Costa County, and the development of a fourth bore of the Caldecott Tunnel.

DeSaulnier was born in Lowell, Massachusetts, and earned his BA in History from the College of the Holy Cross.  As a young man in Massachusetts, DeSaulnier worked as a probation officer, a truck driver, and a hotel services employee.  He moved to California in the early 1970’s.   DeSaulnier was a member of both the Teamsters International Union and the Hotel Employees and Restaurant Employees International Union.

For most of his career, DeSaulnier has been a small business owner of several successful Bay Area restaurants.  He has served the Bay Area in public office for more than 20 years.

DeSaulnier resides in Concord where he raised his two adult sons, Tristan and Tucker.  He is an avid runner and has completed twenty-one marathons.