2026 Capitol Series | Assemblymember Buffy Wicks

Join the East Bay Leadership Council for the kickoff of the 2026 Capitol Series presented by Sutter Health featuring a Q&A conversation with Assemblymember Buffy Wicks.

Assemblymember Wicks was first elected in 2018 to represent California’s 15th Assembly District and was later re-elected in 2022 to represent the 14th District. She began her career as a political organizer and advocate, working on labor, women’s, and children’s issues. Wicks also served on Barack Obama’s 2008 presidential campaign, helping lead grassroots mobilization efforts, and later joined the Obama Administration as Deputy Director of the White House Office of Public Engagement.

Representing communities from Oakland to Richmond, Assemblymember Wicks has emerged as one of California’s leading voices on housing production, affordability, and solutions to homelessness. Her legislative work has also focused on expanding the state’s social safety net, protecting children in digital spaces, and advancing policies that support women, workers, and families across California.

During her tenure as Chair of the Assembly Housing Committee, Wicks helped shape some of the state’s most consequential housing legislation, including landmark reforms to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) aimed at streamlining approvals for infill housing development in existing communities. Since becoming Chair of the Assembly Appropriations Committee, she has played a key role in guiding major state budget decisions and legislative priorities.

We are excited to welcome Assemblymember Wicks for a conversation exploring the key policy and fiscal issues shaping California and the East Bay, including housing affordability and CEQA reform, the potential impacts of federal funding decisions on the state budget, health care and social safety net priorities, and the broader policy landscape influencing economic growth and community development in the years ahead.