Phil Ting-The Daily Ledger

Philip Yu-Li Ting (born February 9, 1969) is an American politician currently serving in the California State Assembly. He is a Democrat representing the 19th Assembly District, which encompasses western San Francisco and northwestern San Mateo County. Prior to being elected to the Assembly in 2012, he was the Assessor-Recorder of San Francisco.

Career

Ting began his career as a real estate financial adviser at Arthur Andersen and CBRE. He also previously served as the executive director of the Asian Law Caucus, as the president of the Bay Area Assessors Association, and on the board of Equality California.

Phil Ting

Assessor-Recorder

In 2005, Ting was appointed San Francisco Assessor-Recorder in 2005 by Mayor Gavin Newsom, becoming San Francisco’s highest-ranking Chinese-American official at the time. He was then elected to the post in November 2005, garnering 58 percent of the vote.

Phil Ting

As Assessor-Recorder, Ting cleared a five-year assessment backlog, which resulted in the collection of more than $200 million in unpaid property taxes. In February 2012, Ting commissioned the country’s first real study of mortgage fraud that spurred national action, uncovering "widespread mortgage industry irregularity" in San Francisco foreclosures.

Phil Ting

Specifically, Ting commissioned an audit of nearly 400 homes in the city that had been foreclosed upon in 2009-2011. The results of the audit, which demonstrated that more than 80% of the sampled foreclosures contained at least one clear legal violation, provided documented support for the state legislature to push for increased oversight of the mortgage industry.

Ting was re-elected Assessor-Recorder in 2006 and 2010.

California State Assembly

A Democrat, Ting represents the state's 19th District, which includes the west side of San Francisco, in addition to Broadmoor, Colma, Daly City, and South San Francisco. Ting is currently Chair of the Assembly Committee on Budget and is first Asian-American to hold the position. He is also the Chair of the Joint Legislative Budget Committee, Chair of Assembly Budget Subcommittee No. 6 on Budget Process, Oversight and Program Evaluation, Chair of the Select Committee on Asia/California Trade and Investment Promotion, and is a member of the Committee on Business and Professions, the Committee on Utilities and Energy. He previously served as Chair of the Assembly Committee on Revenue and Taxation and Chair of the Assembly Democratic Caucus.

2013-2014 session

On his first day in office Ting was appointed to the Assembly Leadership, being named the Democratic Caucus chair by Speaker John Perez.

During his first term in the Assembly, Ting authored a law that helped set into motion the transformation of Piers 30-32 into what would become Chase Center the home of the Golden State Warriors. He also helped protect seniors by enabling local governments access to state funds to make pedestrian crossing safer near senior centers.

In 2014 Speaker Toni Atkins appointed Ting to Chair the Revenue and Taxation Committee. In 2014, Ting announced his support for a $100 million property tax-break for large corporations in San Francisco's Mid-Market District.

2015-2016 session

In 2015 Ting authored legislation that was signed into law which ensured free pedestrian and bicycle crossing of the Golden Gate Bridge, and a created an incentive program to double the amount of food assistance benefits Californians receive if they purchase California grown fresh fruits, nuts, and vegetables.

In 2016 Ting was appointed Chair of the Assembly Budget Committee by Speaker Rendon. Ting’s appointment was historic as he was the first Asian Pacific Islander to Chair the Assembly’s Budget Committee.

He also successfully authored a number of new laws including; requiring single occupancy restrooms to be designated as gender neutral restrooms. This received praise and condemnation from around the country as transgender individuals' use of public facilities including restrooms and locker rooms became a partisan issue.

Ting also authored a bill to expand the list of individuals who could petition for a Gun Violence Restraining Order, to help increase their use, however it was vetoed by Governor Brown.